{bp} formerly known as WebBP :: Blog

Google Debuts Desktop Search

Google made a pre-emptive strike today ahead of Microsoft and Yahoo!, announcing a beta of its forthcoming desktop search on its corporate blog.

Media coverage is intense and opinions are varied.

One Slashdot user commented, "Being able to google my machine would be the best thing this side of perpetual motion."

Over at Search Engine Watch, the focus is squarely on privacy and security issues that will come to the forefront with the advent of desktop search (Google's or anyone else's).

From the Google Desktop Search Privacy Policy:

Your copy of Google Desktop Search includes a unique application number. When you install Google Desktop Search, this number and a message indicating whether the installation succeeded is sent back to Google so that we can make the software work better. Additionally, when Google Desktop Search automatically checks to see if a new version is available, the current version number and the unique application number are sent to Google...The unique application number is required for Google Desktop Search to work and cannot be disabled.

Google Desktop Search uses the same cookie as Google.com and other Google services. If you send us non-personal information about your Google Desktop Search use, we may be able to make Google services work better by associating this information with other Google services you use and vice versa. You can opt out of sending such non-personal information to Google during the installation process or from the application preferences at any time.

Now seems like an apt time to remind ourselves that technology is a tool. It is not intrinsically good or bad; rather, it is how we use choose to use it that matters.

OSU Finally Eliminates Usage of SSNs For Student Identification

When I was a student at OSU, I bristled at the fact that the university insisted upon using students' Social Security Numbers for identification (in violation of the SSN's original intended limited usage). Professors routinely posted grades by SSN and the number was frequently referenced on student records and it formed the basis of the university's userid for online services. As the Electronic Privacy Information Center highlights under its subhead "The SSN and Student Privacy" (scroll to find), students are especially vulnerable to identity theft while at university. Which is why I am so happy to see OSU quietly announce that:

Your OSU ID number is assigned to you by Oregon State University. Using this number for identification, instead of your social security number, will help maintain the security of your personal and academic information and protect against identify theft.

OSU is converting all SSN-like OSU ID numbers to generated ID numbers that begin with 930. If your OSU ID number is your SSN, it will be converted to a generated ID number by November 14, 2004.

(Emphasis added)

It's about time.

Balancing Access and Privacy on Web

Regular readers know that I have a love/hate relationship with the power of the web. In a few well chosen keystrokes, people today can learn more information about more topics more easily and more quickly than ever before. That's power. But there is also another side to this: the rapid and continuing destruction of privacy. What do I mean you say?

Consider:
- My own experience last year
- Google's reverse lookup of US telephone numbers
- Microsoft Research (MSR)'s system to search digital images by GPS coordinates

Sure, Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems, is quoted as saying nearly five years ago that "You have zero privacy anyway," "Get over it."" But as Slashdot posts at the time and various debates today suggest, not everyone likes the notion of having already lost their privacy.

Somewhere in the balance of this issue, the State of Washington has quietly entered the fray, having published a statewide database of more than 6,000 sex offenders who have been released from prison. Want to see who might be living near your relatives in Seattle? You can here.

Stalker Search

The Register: "Google already performs a reverse lookup of US telephone numbers, and with one click, can take you to a map of the subscriber's house. Describing the enhanced features, Google co-founder Sergey Brin explained,

"It helps, for example, if you're searching for a person like your next-door neighbor, you may get no result," said Brin this week. "Now you'll get one."

We've always found knocking on your next-door neighbor's door with a bowl of sugar is a terrific way to make friends. However, for the sad, the lonely and for potential stalkers everywhere, this could be a boon.

Remember: it's a feature, not a bug."

Google Labs has a slightly more useful Location Search for those intersted in locating the nearest Starbucks.

Search by Location: New Tool for Organization or Surveilance?

Some years ago, I read of a research initiative at IBM to develop a visual search engine. The goal was to create an interface where the user could sketch, say, a blue stripe and a red stripe and the search engine would return images that matched the theme -- perhaps a sunset at the ocean, for example. Now MSR (Microsoft Research) is going public with a very intriguing image search project of its own: Dubbed the World-Wide Media eXchange (WWMX), the idea is to index digital images by where they were taken using GPS data. Researchers contend that people are more likely to remember where they took a particular picture than when.

Wander with care

You never know what you might come across if you're not careful.

It all started earlier this afternoon when I received a regular eNewsletter from OSU. I followed a link and then found myself on the Alumni Association website. Clicking around for a minute, I found a list of web pages maintained by alumni. Curious just who would be linked here, I scanned the list. I was struck by how many alumni from the 1970s had personal web pages. I was also somewhat surprised that, even among the more recent graduates, I didn't recognize a single name. Not a single name, that was, until I came across this: Peter and Jenny (Wing) Hoelter. Immediately, it brought back memories I hadn't thought about in years. Intrigued, I clicked through. Jenny was a smart, cute girl that a lot of people liked. I never knew her very well, but I knew people who did. Peter was an RA for a residence hall I believe -- I don't recall how I met him now, but he was both a bit older and seemingly well connected with all of the RHA folks. I vaguely remember being introduced to him by another RA from Hawaii whose name I've long since forgotten but who was totally into multimedia back then. People seemed to worship Peter. And Jenny? Well if I'm not totally mistaken, I recall more than one person being interested in her at some point. I recall having some awareness that Jenny and Peter started dating and I heard later they got married. But I've never thought about either of them since OSU.

So it was quite a surprise to stumble across photos of their first child, Owen, born earlier this year. Those so interested can relive the wedding as well, with wedding day photo coverage, a pre-wedding blog of sorts kept by Jenny when she was in Montana, and even sign the guestbook. In fifteen minutes, I now know more about Jenny and Peter and their respective families than I ever did while I was at OSU. I am not going to do anything with this knowledge, but it is scary how easily it was gotten.

Online, the tension between a desire for community and a need for personal privacy continues. I've spent the better part of the last nine years wrestling with this very issue. And, on the eve of considering the launch of a new personal blog, I'm still conflicted.