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Google Voice's Security/Privacy Verified
Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
2009-10-20
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Google Voice users (along with everyone who isn't yet a user, but might be once more invites become available) shouldn't worry that all of their voicemails will be made searchable. Google issued a statement last night to answer some security- and privacy-related questions.
 | | Google Voice's Security/Privacy Verified |  |
Google Voice is, in case you didn't know, a nifty service that lets users receive all sorts of calls through a single number for free. Tons of other features are built in, too, including the ability to record voicemails and make them available online. This occurs as Google sends the account owners special links.
Unfortunately, a few of the links recently appeared in search results, leading people to believe that there was some sort of security problem or privacy breach. But a post on the Google Voice Blog explained, "[I]f a user copied that unique URL from their email notification, and published it on a public website, then typical search engines, including Google, could have indexed it."
And now even that's out of the question. "[W]e decided that even if a user chose to include this unique URL in a public website, it would remain unsearchable," the post continued. "If you want to publicize a Google Voice message on your website, we provide a special embed code for this purpose. Visitors will then be able to listen to that particular message, but the message itself will remain unsearchable."
So use Google Voice (or look forward to using it) as you did before the hubbub. Security's not an issue, and the service's privacy standards are higher than ever.
About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for SecurityProNews, InternetFinancialNews, SearchNewz, and WebProNews.
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