I'm not saying you're fully wrong, but I think the discussion here is assuming that the alternative to google docs is a hardened computer, in a secure facility, surrounded with armed guards, razor wire, etc. And thats not the case. Speaking about small and medium legal and medical settings, the typical alternative is a poorly backed up, poorly secured, office computer, connected to the Internet, filled with viruses and backdoors, and enthusiastically contributing to the botnet du jour. Small businesses, in general, do not take the time to understand their IT security. Most lawyers do not understand technology, and unless a practice is very large, its not going to have a dedicated IT guy. So when you consider the risk of data loss, or breech, and compare that typical scenario with google docs, then suddenly google docs doesn't look so bad. Without education there is no security; and there isn't much chance of your average lawyer becoming tech savvy enough to secure their network any time soon - so maybe outsourcing aspects of this problem is an improvement.

I mean, really, while it's wrong that they store the data without telling the users, and while users should have better expectations of privacy, you have to look at this in context. They are only storing the data for 3 days, and it's only the connection details rather than the content. And the context that this is in, on Slashdot, is that a few articles down the FBI and the state of california are going to take and warehouse DNA from people that have not been convicted of a crime. I'm not saying this is inconsequential, but considering what's going on in the world in general, from state bodies, what MIT is doing should probably rank fairly far down the list of things to worry about.

it's like the soul of Debian, but reincarnated in a new body.

From tfa, they were found guilty for "providing a website with ... sophisticated search functions, simple download and storage capabilities, and through the tracker linked to the website." Brin and Page and the others at Google better not go to sweden.

Yeah, it was 30 million kroner. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8003799.stm

I read 30 million kroner, which is about 2.7million euro. Still, if you are just a couple of random guys either is plenty big enough to bankrupt you.