Hackers exploiting Google's "open" platform to endanger users' privacy/security with new Goolag tool

In crusading for an "open Internet" Google is irresponsibly silent on how Google's bias for "open" innovation over user security and privacy makes tens of millions of Americans much more open and vulnerable to hackers seeking to steal their identities or to fraudsters and predators seeking to do them harm.

PC World and AP are reporting on a scary new "open source" hacker tool called Goolag produced by Cult of the Dead Cow, that exploits and leverages Google's search engine platform to make cyber-crime super-efficient.  

• Per PC World: "The hacking group Cult of the Dead Cow has released a tool that should make Google hacking a little easier for novices. Called Goolag, the open-source software lets hackers use the Google search engine to scan Web sites for vulnerabilities."
• In other words hackers are piggybacking Google's "open platform" to be much more efficient in trolling for private or financial information.
• Think of it as Google enabling a automated alert system for thieves/fraudsters/predators to locate any and every door, window, file that may have been inadvertently left unlocked or exposed even for even a short time, so thieves/fraudsters/predators can rapidly and efficiently sweep in and steal or do harm. 
  • Think of how many times people happen to leave a door or window in their home or car unlocked out of forgetfulness or natural distraction, and then think if their was a Google enabled open source tool that would allow crooks to efficiently and immediately pounce on that normal everyday vulnerability -- that before was not a real vulnerability because crooks didn't have the time to constantly check every door and window in the country...
  • This new automated surveilance tool for criminals is a frightening vulnerability enabled by Google's corporate priority for open source innovation over their users' security and/or privacy. 

This would not be so troubling if not for Google's well known and dangerously bad track record on privacy and accountability:

• The leading international privacy watchdog Privacy International ranked Google worst in its world survey stating: "we have witnessed an attitude to privacy within Google that at its most blatant is hostile, and at its most benign is ambivalent. These dynamics do not pervade other major players such as Microsoft or eBay..."  
•  One of the leading international corporate accountabilty watchdogs, One World Trust, ranked Google worst in its world survey of Global accountability.

Bottom line: Google irresponsibly prioritizes open platform innovation over user security or privacy.

Google's obsession for open design and open policies above everything else -- is making unsuspecting users dramatically more vulnerable to identity theft, fraud and predation than they were before.