Google Question

[Raminta <>]

Hi-

(Not sure whether this is going to reach both the class-mates and Dr. 
Johnson.)

So, if we are running Linux on our machine, can we prevent ppl from reading 
files on our hard drive and/or machine?

The story is below; link: http://www.sciscoop.com/story/2005/10/17/135559/60.

Raminta

 Using Google to "discover" planetoids  
By benhocking, Section News
Posted on Thu Oct 20, 2005 at 02:34:49 AM PST

 MSNBC and Internet news are carrying a story about how the internet has been 
used to "make" scientific discoveries. Evidently (according to the MSNBC 
article only), the Spanish researchers (Ortiz et al.) discovered a planetoid 
by noticing where Michael Brown (at CalTech) was pointing his telescope. The 
scientists all but admitted to scooping the data from Brown - "Scientist Jose 
Luis Ortiz says he and his researchers did nothing wrong and the data found 
using the Google search engine should be considered public and thus free to 
use".


Since Brown had already discovered the planetoid but was merely gathering more 
data, how much credit should Ortiz get for his "discovery", if any? Would it 
matter if Brown hadn't realized yet what he was looking at?

Update [2005-10-19 8:49:58 by chad]: barakn wrote in with some articles 
containing additional information:

CalTech 
LA Times

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   Google and Waiting (5.00 / 1) (#2) 
by chad on Tue Oct 18, 2005 at 04:31:05 AM PST

 
As I recall, the information was not available via a link on the site, but 
only via Google. Google must have some way of requesting directory listings 
from web sites, thus finding "hidden" files. This is not a new problem. I 
remember reading, some time ago, that Google had expanded its search to 
include several new file types, including the *.doc MS Word files. Some of the 
files it found contained sensitive information like password lists, much to 
the surprise of the sites' system admins.

On a separate note, I think Brown was partially responsible for bringing this 
on himself. I don't understand the mentality of hiding an astronomical 
discovery for years until enough data has been compiled to cross every "t" and 
dot every "i". Why not announce it fairly soon after the initial discovery, 
thus excluding the possibility of someone else also finding it and getting the 
credit?