Editing Google Desktop (section)

===Privacy===
{{see also|Criticism of Google#Privacy}}
Many [[privacy]] and [[civil liberties]] groups such as the [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] (EFF) have concerns that personal information on people's computers could readily be copied from users' [[hard drive]]s.<ref name=EFF/>

Google Desktop version 3 contains certain features that raise serious security and privacy concerns. Specifically, the ''share across computers'' feature, which introduces the ability to search content from desktop to desktop, greatly increases the risk to users' privacy.  If Google Desktop V.3 is set to allow ''Search Across Computers'', files on an indexed computer are copied to Google's servers. The potential for information stored on their computers to be accessed by others if they enable this feature of Google Desktop v. 3 on their computers should be seriously considered. The EFF advises against using this feature.<ref name=EFF>{{citation | url = https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2006/02/09 | title = Press Release | date = 2006-02-09 | publisher = Electronic Frontier Foundation}}</ref>  Also, those who have confidential data on their work or home computers should not enable this feature. There are privacy laws and company policies that could be violated through the installation of this feature, specifically, [[California Senate Bill 1386 (2002)|SB 1386]], [[Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act|HIPAA]], [[FERPA]], [[GLBA]] and [[Sarbanes-Oxley]].<ref>{{citation | url = http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/internet/0,39044246,39311126,00.htm | title = More worries about Google Desktop 3 | publisher = ZDNet | place = Asia | access-date = 2006-02-24 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100311023409/http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/internet/0,39044246,39311126,00.htm | archive-date = 2010-03-11 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Other more far reaching concerns arise around the packaging and end user license agreement – specifically the level of intrusion on the local machine and the disclaimers that users implicitly agree to future changes in the license agreement without actually being able to see them immediately.<ref>{{citation | chapter-url = http://rixstep.com/2/20070621,00.shtml | title = Google Desktop Tracked | chapter = Terms of Service (Welcome to Google) | publisher = Rix Step}}</ref><ref>{{citation | chapter-url = http://rixstep.com/2/20070621,05.shtml | title = Google Desktop Tracked | chapter = The Aftermath | publisher = Rix Step}}</ref>