Russia Yandex search engine showing search results from Google Docs archives claimed to be private documents. TechSpot.com published an article defending Google position on this claim.

Despite the fact that Google Docs are very secure, users need to be careful on how they publicly available options. Any document you create in Google Docs is secure and private under your account only, search engines will not be able to crawl your document and show it in their search results, including those documents you upload to your account.

The trouble with your Google documents start once you click on Share button

The following Dialog Box will show up

   Move the mouse on (Get Shareable Link)

 You will see the following message

 Once you click on (Get Shareable Link), you will see a message (Link copied to clipboard. Link Sharing is ON. Undo)

You have 10 seconds to click Undo before the message disappears.

 To cancel the shared link you just created click on Advanced the following (Sharing Settings) dialog will show up

   There is an option (Anyone who has the link can view) Click on (Change)

   The following Dialog will show:

 Click on “Off – Specific people” as follows:

 It should look like

Now click on Save Button, you will see (Sharing Settings) dialog again.

It will change to (Private – Only you can access)

Now click on (Done), the created (Get Shareable Link) removed.  

Privacy and Security Concerns

The option provided by Google Docs to get shareable link is the troublemaker if not being used properly. The default option of (Get Shareable link) is to make the document shareable with anyone who get this link from you. The options available for sharing with others are:

1. Make document publicly available
2. Make document accessible to people who get the shareable link
3. Share document with specific people only through invitation

Third option is the safest option to choose, however it is limited to people who can authenticate with their email ID you choose.

First option means your document can be indexed by search engines and available to public.

Second option as we described earlier will be available with people who get the link, by default the link cannot be indexed by search engines unless you or someone else placed the shareable link in publicly available web location.

As matter of fact, you are responsible about your choice. It is good practice to remove shareable links once the intended job finished.

I would prefer that Google Docs add extra feature on (shareable links) time bounded to remove the link automatically after certain period, because people tend to forget removing it.

Author: Jawad Alalawi Information Technology Professional specialized in Financial Payment Services, Risk Management, Information Security, and Compliance. Experienced in solutions development and implementation, and technical writer. Banking and Technology Information Security Consultant    

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