Well, That's All I Need to Hear

EFF: Electronic Frontier Foundation on Google Desktop Search "Search Across Computers" Feature

In an effort to help find and organize things on my desktop, I was contemplating trying out Google Desktop, Copernic, or similar offerings from MSN, Yahoo, and Ask Jeeves.

When I asked Patrick if he had any recommendations about desktop search, he said basically don't use any! And then pointed out some frightening news about AT&T:

In not-so-unrelated news today, AT&T has revised their user privacy policy. From the "Wall Street Journal":

"AT&T Inc. said it clarified its privacy policy for Internet and television customers to state explicitly that subscriber information is a business record belonging to the company and may be turned over to law enforcement in some cases.

"AT&T also indicated that under its revised policy, which takes effect tomorrow and is being emailed to its more than seven million Internet customers, the San Antonio company plans to track customers' TV-viewing habits."

What the heck is going on here?? Why can't we have useful tools without such blatant invasion of privacy?