Wired.com discovers Google Docs flaw, but that's not the only one

A writer at Wired.com this week pointed to a document editing issue in Google Apps, and that's just the latest in a list of security holes -- of varying severity -- uncovered by users of Google's suite.

Other users have complained, for example, about Google document ownership getting assigned to the wrong people, an inability to delete images of Google documents, and the lack of SSL encryption for docs published in the Standard Edition.

The user who discovered the document editing issue was a co-worker of Michael Calore, who writes for Wired.com. The colleague didn't realize the publication's Wired Tech Layoff Tracker spreadsheet had been edited by an unknown person until a reader came forward to say he'd done that deed.

As Calore sees it, the culprit is a "confusing bit of interface design" in Google's "Share with others" and "People with access" screens. The problem in both places centers on section B, privacy settings, where Google gives a choice between permitting or prohibiting people from editing a document without signing in. The sign-up process requires a Google account.

"What's not clear is that in this instance, 'people' in section B refers not to the people you've specifically invited in section A, but rather everyone on the Internet," Calore wrote.

Undoubtedly, Calore's co-worker isn't the only person to have gotten tripped up by Google's permissions, although some might not want to admit their mistakes. Other users, though, have gotten unforeseen results from Google Docs which seem to have nothing to do with settings they've chosen.

For example, some speakers of non-English languages claim to have been mis-assigned ownership of documents created by someone who uses the same native tongue. In the blog for the Novedge graphics design site, Franco Folini -- an artist whose native language is Italian -- said he's been wrongly assigned Google Docs actually produced by a library in Cesena, Italy.

"Someone wrote a document with Google Docs, didn't share it [and] Google misplaced the document, assigning the document to another user (me) instead of the correct author's directory," according to Folini.

"This is exactly the kind of breach of security that you absolutely don't want happening with your personal or business documents. Before putting anything else on Google Docs, I would like to know the origin of this problem."

Next: Google Docs get lost in translation...