Google desktop search and privacy

["Goldstein, Dan" <DGoldstein -at- DeusTech -dot- com>]

The NYT published a description of a security flaw in Google desktop search
that was successfully plugged -- all well and good. However, the same
article includes the following:

* "The way the software tool is designed, a user's queries, but no locally
stored information, is distributed via the Internet. But by reading user
queries sent to its search service, Google is able to place its AdWords text
advertisements next to the search results displayed in a user's browser
window."

* "The Google desktop program includes an update feature that permits the
company to automatically install new versions of the program on users'
computers without user intervention or knowledge."

IMHO, those are both show-stoppers*. Do the MSN desktop search and Copernic
have those as well?

Dan Goldstein

* A hardware or (especially) software bug that makes an implementation
effectively unusable; one that absolutely has to be fixed before development
can go on. Opposite in connotation from its original theatrical use, which
refers to something stunningly good.

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