Searching times ahead. GD3 worries some folks

Google Desktop is a wonderful tool, it enables me to find that piece I wrote about jam making at some time in the last three years ... that letter about my holiday insurance etc., etc., Now a new feature in Google Desktop 3 (GD3) launched on Wednesday allows the user to search for documents across multiple computers, poses privacy risks and should not be used, a consumer digital rights nonprofit and a security company, The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), are warning.

This has precipitated a lot of concern about privacy and is well addressed by an article at c-net "When Google is not your friend" The principal cause for worry by users of search engines in the US is that search engines are not fully shielded by the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act--concocted back in the era of CompuServe and bulletin board systems--their users don't enjoy the same level of privacy.

Declan McCullagh delves into what the major search engines do in storing your data and how it may be made available either by sub poaena (a demand from a court to provide the stated evidence) which may be made via the State or by an attorney applying to the court. An earlier article by him explains how it is already being used in court.

Any user of search engines, especially users of Desktop would be well advised to consider the consequences of using the major search engines.... remember how often you see in a news story of some court case the exposure of some e-mail that the sender / recipient would rather not have seen the light of day.

More information at Z Net

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