I use Google Docs a lot. I'm rather alarmed by the fact that anyone can pop a Google Doc into my document list. Here's an example where I send a document into an email address I don't have in my Google Contacts list - and email address which, I assume, Google has no idea I can control.
The first step is easy enough. Create the document, share it and then opt for the "skip invitation part".
Then look what happens.
The document turns up in the documents list for the email address I've targeted.
The document itself could contain any message I wanted. This one has a hyperlink but it could also have an image.
Clearly, this isn't a problem right now. Google's fighting to establish Google Docs as a possible replacement/supplement to Office and that's probably why it is so easy to fire around Google Docs, Spreadsheets and Presentations. It seems more than likely that Google will have to crack down on the invitation process at someone point.
I could draw connections between this and Yahoo Groups. In the old days Yahoo Groups moderators would add just any old email address to their mailing list and then use the list to mass mail spam.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Spamming with Google Docs
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Google Docs Used to Detail Flash Security Hole
The Register has the story of a Google security guru, Rich Cannings, helping to discover and report on a serious security hole with Flash. Simply put Flash is vunerable to cross site scripting and so, in theory, hijackers could use the technique to discover your bank log in details. Cannings is suggesting that now is the time for 10,000s of sites to re-do their Flash and use the latest, patched, software.
That's the backdrop. What interested me was that Cannings put his advice on a public Google Docs document. The Register refer to it as a 'post'.
I suspect we'll see more of this in 2008. If you need to put together a 'web document' quickly then Google Docs is far quicker than messing around with HTML. I guess Cannings found Google Docs even easier than Google Page Creator and that's not a vote of confidence for Page Creator.
So, if we do see an increase in useful information being published via Google Docs then there's an extra product I want from Google - a search engine, one that searches through just Google Docs documents.
As a consumer/reader Google Docs has a special attraction to me - you can't put tracking in it. You can't track me. As a publisher you don't know when I'm reading your public Google Doc document. You certainly don't have my IP address, hostname and by no means are you slipping me a cookie.
As a web marketer I'm not so happy if there's a trend from web consumers to ask for information via public Google Docs documents because I can't track or cookie them.
Oh, just as a footnote - Rich Cannings must be very confident that there are no security holes or weaknesses in Google Docs.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Google - slyly does it.
I'm impressed by Writely the real time and collaborative web word processor that Google has just bought. The program isn't even finished yet.
This is very much Google's style; buy the interesting start-ups. Yahoo will find the cash to buy those companies which have proven themselves to be real winners (Best Yahoo purchase? That has to be Flickr).
With Microsoft also working on an on demand Office I think we find ourselves at the start of the next big race. Those people who have been saying that Fat Server and Thin Client architecture will come back and rule the day may well be right.
It's the less wow pow upgrades from Google which I think will have the biggest impact in the short term. I'm very surprised that so little has been paid about Google Base accepting payments. This is probably because Google Base has been less than an impressive hit to date. However, if Google Purchases does manage to crack the micropayment saga then Google will have found a very real cash flow which does not depend on AdWords.
Not so impressive as the micropayments but still big news - especially to MSN's demographic targeting lure for AdCenter is Google's stealth addition of demographics to AdWords and SiteTargeting. At a glance Google's demographic information is not as impressive as MSN's but this could change. It is certainly unusual for Google to be so upfront about a collaboration and Comscore/MediaMetrix is in the limelight for being able to provide information to the Master of all Information.
What are people talking about? They're talking about Google giving some peanuts back to people (peanuts in credit) if you can prove Click Fraud. They've simply extended the window in which you have time to complain.
