October 19th, 2004
Google desktop search not evil says Seltzer
eWeek Security Center editor Larry Seltzer tears apart Google’s Desktop Search (GDS) software and then puts it back together and concludes that most of the criticisim being levied against Google, particularly in the areas of security and privacy, are FUD. In his findings, Seltzer says, "[Google's] privacy policy says, among other things, ‘Your computer’s content is not made accessible to Google or anyone else without your explicit permission.’ This won’t stop some from assuming that big, evil Google Inc. will do so anyway, perhaps to finance its other evil ventures such as the free search service it provides." In his separation of fact from fiction, Seltzer finds one major problem and that is that you must have administrative rights to not only install the software on Windows XP, but to run it as well. Seltzer rightfully demands that Google fix that problem. In my column about why Service Pack 2 for Windows XP deserved every shred of the scrutiny it got, I talk in detail about how (1) software that requires administrative rights the way GDS does is common and is a just a reality that Microsoft must learn how to deal with gracefully (perhaps the way Mac OS X deals with it), and (2) critics of users who run Windows XP with administrative rights really don’t have a leg to stand on when arguing their point.
