主题：【评论】这是Google惹的祸吗？ -- Highway

比方说吧，你新交的女朋友第一次去你的单身宿舍去看你。结果一进屋，就看见了你床下一堆的臭袜子，在你的书架上浏览一下，结果发现里面夹杂着什么《Penthouse》杂志以及《肉蒲团》之类的典籍。在你的床上刚小坐了几分钟，就发现枕头底下露出半截你和其他MM的信件......

如果是这样的话，那么你一定很尴尬，可能还有些恼火。抱怨她说“你眼睛也太尖了吧！”。她肯定会跳起来说“呸！这怎么会是我的错。首先你就不应该有这些东西，你没有的话，我怎么能发现。再者，如果你真的不想让人看到，你就应该锁起来或者放到什么别人找不到的地方。你就摆在那里，还怪我眼尖......（此处省略80000字）哼！”

现在Google Desktop Search软件就好比是你的那位女朋友，发现了好多本不想让人知道的东西。Well，这该怪她呢，还是该怪你呢?Here is the story-->

[SIZE=3]Desktop Google Finds Holes[/SIZE]

Google's desktop search software is so good that it exposes vulnerabilities on your computer that you didn't know about. 
 
Last month, Google released a beta version of its desktop search software: Google Desktop Search. Install it on your Windows machine, and it creates a searchable index of your data files, including word processing files, spreadsheets, presentations, e-mail messages, cached Web pages and chat sessions. It's a great idea. Windows' searching capability has always been mediocre, and Google fixes the problem nicely.

There are some security issues, though. [B]The problem is that GDS indexes and finds documents that you may prefer not be found. For example, GDS searches your browser's cache. This allows it to find old Web pages you've visited, including online banking summaries, personal messages sent from Web e-mail programs and password-protected personal Web pages.[/B]

GDS can also retrieve encrypted files. No, it doesn't break the encryption or save a copy of the key. However, it searches the Windows cache, which can bypass some encryption programs entirely. And if you install the program on a computer with multiple users, you can search documents and Web pages for all users.

Click here to read Scot Petersen's column on GDS entitled "Search Run Amok". 

[B]GDS isn't doing anything wrong; it's indexing and searching documents just as it's supposed to. The vulnerabilities are due to the design of Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, PGP and other programs.[/B]

[B]First[/B], Web browsers should not store SSL-encrypted pages or pages with personal e-mail. If they do store them, they should at least ask the user first.

[B]Second[/B], an encryption program that leaves copies of decrypted files in the cache is poorly designed. Those files are there whether or not GDS searches for them.

[B]Third[/B], GDS' ability to search files and Web pages of multiple users on a computer received a lot of press when it was first discovered. This is a complete nonissue. You have to be an administrator on the machine to do this, which gives you access to everyone's files anyway.

Some people blame Google for these problems and suggest, wrongly, that Google fix them. What if Google were to bow to public pressure and modify GDS to avoid showing confidential information? The underlying problems would remain: The private Web pages would still be in the browser's cache; the encryption program would still be leaving copies of the plain-text files in the operating system's cache; and the administrator could still eavesdrop on anyone's computer to which he or she has access. The only thing that would have changed is that these vulnerabilities once again would be hidden from the average computer user.

In the end, this can only harm security.

[B]GDS is very good at searching. It's so good that it exposes vulnerabilities on your computer that you didn't know about. And now that you know about them, pressure your software vendors to fix them. Don't shoot the messenger. [/B]

小心点，弄不好会搬起石头砸了自己的脚。监视“他”不成，反倒被“他”监视。暴露了自己的一举一动（包括和其他帅哥们私下往来的密信

说实在的，那个软件还是不错的。刚安装完以后，它什么也不知道。但你别管它，它会在后台慢慢的搜索你的硬盘的每一个角落，给这些文件分门别列做好索引，并且以后你的一举一动它都记录在案。如果这时候你想要查个什么东西，它会飞快的给你呈上，并且用的是你熟悉的Google界面，比Windows自带的Search强很多。不过对于中文的搜索归类能力我不是非常清楚，所以在你的中文Windows 2000下的表现如何我不敢打保票，但想来应该问题不大。

推荐一用。

没有GOOGLE的技术，有心人要找到这些资料恐怕也不是难题。GOOGLE所作的无非是把那些信息给索引起来，并不是从不该被人看到的地方去“偷窃”了出来。这个漏洞是微软的责任，不是他那么没有安全性，GOOGLE想找也都找不到。

应该表扬GOOGLE，让我们知道安全漏洞这么多。

比如说Firefox对Cache的处理就不是很妥帖

看来整个Software industry都要考虑一下才好！

看过一个调查, 大多数普通人人都愿意牺牲一点 privacy 来换取 convenience.

任何事情都不能走极端。极度安全系统，就像Mission Impossible里中央情报局的那种系统，我不用也罢！太不安全的系统，门户大开那也不行。我每天用电脑banking, trade stock，安全还是一个主要的concern!

似乎只和中文有关。

PRIVACY一定是个大问题，软件公司慢慢在意识到这搞不好要出血打官司的。