We routinely rely on social codes rather than technology to protect our privacy (as well as our property and lives). There's nothing physically preventing my building super from using her key to go into my apartment and look through or steal all my stuff, but I'd be upset if it happened. What's more, 99.9% of Google's users are in no position to evaluate the cryptographic security, or lack thereof, of their documents. Finally, Google has actually said no humans read your email, in response to that Microsoft campaign. So no, hypothetical you wouldn't be stupid, and you are wrong to imply that the millions of Google users who would have a problem with those things are being stupid now. Making a series of decisions that we will at some point regret, perhaps, but your condescension is unwarranted.

Please stop spreading misinformation.

* Google scans email, not other documents in Drive: http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=60762

* Just as the NSA claims that collecting data doesn't count until a person reads it, Google affirms that humans do not read user data without permission.

* Documents are are encrypted in transit, not uploaded in clear text.

Google Drive is very much like a safe deposit box in a bank, in terms of user expectation of privacy, and vendor promises.

If my secretary holds my briefcase, is the government allowed to seize it without any warrant or judicial approval?

Email is slightly more complicated, due to automated ads scanning.

> If my secretary holds my briefcase, is the government allowed to seize it without any warrant or judicial approval?

if your secretary agrees to give it to them , of course they can.

And if your secretary doesn't agree? When the FBI man gives an order, submission is not consent.