Google lets slip talk of online storage service

8216;8216;With infinite storage, we can house all user files, including emails, web history, pictures, bookmarks, etc and make it accessible from anywhere any device, any platform, etc,8217;8217; the notes in the original Google presentation state.

Chief Executive Eric Schmidt in his presentation made acryrtic comment that one goal of Google was to 8216;8216;store 100 per cent8217;8217; of consumer information.

Copies of the notes were captured by a handful of bloggers and shared around the Web. The company subsequently took down its original presentation and replaced it with a file devoid of the speaker notes.

When asked to confirm plans for a GDrive, a Google spokeswoman declined to comment on any specific service but confirmed that presentation containing the notes had been mistakenly released on the Web.

8216;8216;We deleted the slide notes because they were not intended for publication,8217;8217; Google spokeswoman Lynn Fox said. The deleted presentation had appeared on Google8217;s investor relations site at http://investor.google.com/ppt/20060302tanalysttday.ppt

8216;8216;We are constantly working on ways to enhance our services for users, but have nothing to announce at this time,8217;8217; she said.

The retracted management notes go on to state that GDrive is one of several efforts in this direction but faces bandwidth constraints for many users with slower network speeds.

Google could save users from potential computer data crashes by keeping a 8216;8216;golden copy8217;8217; of user data on Google8217;s centralised computers and rely on the user8217;s local hard drive simply for speedy access to one8217;s data, the notes state.

Recently Google began offering an optional service that stores copies of the text portions of a computer user8217;s data on Google8217;s computers. The service lets users search data stored on local computers from other machines via Google accounts.

While offering more convenient access to user data, the service stroked debate about the dangers of users storing so much of their digital lives on Google machines.

Google recently squared up against the US Justice Department which has subpoenaed a limited set of data on Google search habits. 8212; Reuters