Google seems to be adding features and new Internet-based services at an astounding rate, but it is worth pausing a bit before embracing the latest addition to the desktop search tool.

Privacy advocates were already concerned about Google?s desktop search tool, which helps you find existing information on your own computer. Now the latest version allows you to search across multiple computers, if you own more than one, to find information.

?You don?t have to worry about where it lives,? Google stated in releasing the version. ?It?s available anywhere you are. If you?ve ever created a document but forgotten whether it?s on your laptop or desktop, then you can appreciate why we built this feature.?

Well you should worry about where your ?information? lives. What Google plays down is that the new ?Search Across Computers? feature will store copies of everything you?ve saved on Google?s own servers. This allows the search to occur. While this would be a very useful feature to those on the move, if you run a business with lots of computers and data, you should be having a heart attack.

Just think, an employee may inadvertently or willingly be exposing the company to an extreme risk of hacks, information theft, or even Government-inspired court orders against Google to turn over the private data.

As the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says: Do not use the feature.

The EFF says the feature makes personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the Government and possibly private litigants, while providing a convenient one-stop-shop for hackers who?ve obtained a user?s Google password.

You may say that if government wanted the information, they would just have to go to court to get access to your computer for the data. However, at least you have a chance to fight the court order.

Placing all your data on a private company?s site will make it easier for authorities to get to it. The question is, will Google immediately hand over the information without a fight? Google has so far not commented on the matter. A simple assurance that the information is protected would go a long way toward clearing up the legitimate concerns.

The company?s recent move in China, where it agreed to block citizens from searching for sites censured by the government, does indicate the company is willing to stand up for basic rights.

On the positive side Google did stand up to the US government last August by rejecting requests to access its search logs in what law officials said was a bid to protect minors from objectionable material on the Internet.

Microsoft, Yahoo, and America Online all admitted they had provided the government with some of the requested log data.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation noted that privacy problem arises because the US Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986 gives only limited protection to e-mails and other files that are stored with online service providers.

This is much less privacy than the legal protections for the same information when it?s on your computer at home. Whatever the intent of the company I think that as it is currently promoted, the new ?Search Across Computers? is a bad idea. If you use it, at least you will know the potential downside.

The good news is at least you can turn the feature off and use the rest of what is really a good program.

In Desktop Search Google has also updated the ?Sidebar? view. The Sidebar is a feature that opens a pane or ?panels?, showing your Gmail inbox, news, popular Web pages, local weather, and a list of recently opened files.

On a lighter side of the company, Google Earth has put up high resolution imagery of Torino, Italy and the surrounding area. The feature helps the Winter Olympic fanatics get a bird?s eye view of the places they see on television.

Once you have installed Google Earth, you then click for the Torino satellite map, which will load placemarks for all the major venues in the area. To see the lay of the lay of the land just enable the ?Terrain? layer feature and use the tilt view control to get a ?3D? look at the sites for the various outdoor events.

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