Google has released software that allows users of the Firefox web-browser to save their "cookies, passwords, bookmarks, history and current list of open tabs" to a Google account, reports Lifehacker, effectively allowing web surfers to create what one Slashdot reader describes approvingly as a "roaming profile" that lets users access their browser settings regardless of what computer they're on. While generally welcomed, the release of Google Sync Firefox extension has re-ignited the privacy debate in the blogosphere.

"Personally, I'm not so worried about what Google sees," comments on Slashdotter. "I'm worried about the recent moves by the gov't to collect that info. Google is unintentionally setting up a nice little trap for a bunch of people." Lifehacker and several other Slashdot readers, however, downplay the privacy issue, noting that Google has implemented several levels of optional encryption which should satisfy all but the most security-sensitive users. Encryption is good, but there may be a more prosaic privacy issue notes another, perhaps more candid, Slashdotter: "Wait, I don't want all my bookmarks from home in my work browser!"