WOW!

while it's amusing they'd make a mistake like this, the real privacy issue isn't with google-- they're simply presenting audio files in an alternate form and making them searchable. the problem lies in the sites that would make these files public when people are under the illusion the voicemail would be private.

I think that the golden rule is: anything you make available on the net will get crawled and might be in SERPs. If SE stop crawling or showing it in SERPs you can be sure that others spiders, probably of non-desirable sources, will also find it eventually. So its simple, don't post on the web if it is private.

Un-freaking-believable. Might as post a "Google Mic" in each bedroom, transcribe and index it for everyone to read what you said.

"We made a change to prevent these voicemails from being crawled so their content will not be indexed."

Tell that to many other archivers or to that person who's private call just went live, internationally.

One other glitch and everything might be published.

when people are under the illusion the voicemail would be private.

Anybody that leaves a voicemail should not expect it to be private. It's a new world. If you don't want it public - shut up. Don't say it, don't write it down - don't even think it.

I love email because people are so stupid about what they do and do not say. It really helps hold people accountable; very inconvenient for an extraordinary percentage of supposedly intelligent people. Make a promise and break it? Make a claim and later deny it if circumstances make that inconvenient? There will be an attitude adjustment or there will be a problem.

The stupidest people of all are those that get upset over something (and usually wrong) and then pop-off a voicemail or email while still insane. I've got a special folder for the all-time champions. LOL

The stupidest people of all are those that get upset over something (and usually wrong) and then pop-off a voicemail or email while still insane

And I've been guilty of that myself. Forum posts as well. I use the "2-hour" rule religiously now. If it's enough to get me worked up, I wait a minimum of 2 hours before replying. My replies are usually much calmer and far wittier than they would have been had I just popped off like I wanted to. There's a court case in my city right now involving email correspondence. Someone thought what they were emailing somebody else was private. It's only private until a Judge wants to see it.

As Blackwell said, if you expect privacy, keep it to yourself.

Surely if someone chooses to share their transcript with the public it is now public content that should be indexed? Imagine that the voicemail was left by a prominent politician soliciting <del>bribes</del> contributions from a businessman whilst working on an act that could seriously affect that businessman. Google has just censored text which the public really should see, and I do not think that is right.

If it's enough to get me worked up, I wait a minimum of 2 hours before replying. My replies are usually much calmer and far wittier than they would have been had I just popped off like I wanted to

I write best when i am angry about something.

It's only private until a Judge wants to see it.

That has always been true of anything that can be retrieved.

[edited by: engine at 10:34 am (utc) on Oct. 21, 2009]
[edit reason] fomatting [/edit]

wow,yea i won't be using google voice haha

I guess people should not really put anything private like voicemail on the net and it is a good move by google to not crawl them anyways..