Google has released a new tool which allows notes and comments to be posted on web pages for others to read.
Google Sidewiki is a narrow pop-up browser panel which appears on the left hand side of a website and displays messages from users about the content of the page. The comments are visible to other users of Sidewiki who visit the site and they can post their own comments but they cannot edit the comments of others.
Writing in its blog, Google said Sidewiki was a way for web users to contribute “insights” and “helpful information” next to any web page.
It runs as an add-on feature of Google Toolbar for Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers and Google said it would be available soon for Google Chrome, its own web browser.
We would have thought it would create more problems than it was worth and opens up a whole legal can of worms. It would be possible to write comments on the websites of people you don’t like and be protected by Google for doing so.
