Bruce Schneier points out (again) how users misunderstand security flaws in software. Google Desktop apparently indexes files that people don’t really want indexed because they contain personal information. The problem is, of course, that the personal information was left out there by poorly written programs. So, is Google to blame for their software indexing this? or is the program to blame that put the info out there in the first place?

This isn’t just limited to security issues, of course. Kim highlights a lawsuit against Google by a porn company that claims that Google is hurting their business because people can find pages that have lists of usernames and passwords to their site. Once again, Google (in this case their web search engine) is simply indexing information people publish to the web. Do you blame Google? or do you blame the fool that put the username and password info out there? The problem is, of course, that you probably can’t do much about the page if it’s hosted overseas. Google, on the other hand, is based here. Makes it easier to sue, even if they don’t deserve to be.