Picasa - Question about privacy
 

I have numerous travel photos and have recently started using Picasa to label and tag (including locations, people, subjects, etc) photos. My photos are stored on local drive of my computer, not on an online web service - or at least, that's what I think.

A techie friend told me photos are loaded onto a Google server anytime anyone uses Picasa. He told me my photos are accessible to anyone. I thought I was working on my computer, just using the Picasa software as a management tool. I didn't think I was using a 'web album' - but, he said a web album is automatically created. He told me it's all there in the Google privacy policy.

Can anyone give me any information on this? I've gone back to the Google Picasa site and can't find this spelled out - one way or the other.

Thanks.

Your friend is full of it. Picasa isn't uploading anything unless you direct it to.

My guess is that they are referring to this phrase:
But that is only applicable if you are actively using web albums.

SBM12 - thanks so much. This "friend" is someone everyone goes to for any tech question. I'm not much of a techie, but honestly, I've been skeptical of some of his previous advice. He offers advice with so much confidence it makes you "almost" believe him. I'm glad you were here for a second opinion.

Happy to help. And he might be right and me wrong. But I'd ask him to point out the details rather than just taking such an assertion at face value. I certainly cannot find anything anywhere that suggest 1) they are doing it; or. 2) they say they can do it.

I am certainly no techie, but I use Picasa. I don't use their Web Albums except on the rare occasion I've wanted to post a photo on a message board and I've uploaded the photos there.

I accessed the Web Albums directly from my Picasa account, and since the Web Albums were empty when I got there and only the photos I chose to put in the Web Albums have ever appeared there - I do not believe all of the photos you put in Picasa on your computer are automatically uploaded to the Web.

With the number of photos I have and the wet piece of string linking me to the internet, I think I would have noticed if it were uploading all my pics, added to which I have a monthly traffic quota which I would have breached.

When I saw the title I thought it was referring to the T&C of Picasa's web albums, which says they can use your photos for purposes such as marketing and publicity. That's why I don't use the web albums feature any more.

Definitely false - pics are only uploaded to Google when you choose to upload them.

(ex-Googler)