Actually, if you remove the "security s", it becomes an active address:
http://picasaweb.google.com/100816217821038314261/4thOfJuly2011OnLakeUnion?authkey=Gv1sRgCMyttejQtZjM4wE#5625913392174381074

There's a string going in this section titled "Beware Picasa" that has a lot of stuff in it that doesn't ring true in my experience. I just couldn't let this one go by without adding to the mix.

Picasa is a very smart, very sophisticated program underneath all that easy-to-use interface. I'm not a software expert, but know enough to realize that the questions and comments in the "Beware" string come from mis-understandings - with a dash of paranoia for flavor - about what it does and how it works. I've used Picasa for a couple or three years, and have never experienced ANY of the situations I've just read about, in the above or any in other posts. Please let me add my little bit of gleaned knowledge.

Think of Picasa as a viewer, if you will. When you download Picasa, it looks at your hard drive for anything that is tagged .jpeg, .tif, or whatever extension is appended onto your shots. It then creates a directory of those for itself, and for you, to use to go get them (through Picasa) so that you can actually use Picasa for the reasons you downloaded it! When you go into Picasa, you're looking at your photos through the Picasa view of your photos. How else would you expect it to work? It has to know what you have so it can do what you want!

First, Picasa doesn't "download" anything, except it's own operational program - the ".exe" and other work related files. It doesn't send hidden messages about what you're doing, it doesn't collect user data, it doesn't do anything but make your pictures look good. Google has bigger things going on than to know how you edited a picture of your cat.

Second, Picasa does NOT destroy your original shots. It automatically creates folders called "Picasa Originals" that safeguard all your original shots. In fact, what you're actually seeing and working on is a copy, because it's already stashed your original away. Their thinking is that if you want to do something to your photo, you're going to want to see the changes, alterations, fixes, whatever, you've done to it. You don't see the "Picasa Originals" folders unless you specifically tell your computer to display hidden folders. I don't know why Picasa doesn't display the folders in their directory, but I see them all when I use my PSPX4 or SmartPhoto Editor; my originals are all there.

Third, your photos never leave your computer. Picasa doesn't take them into some humongous data base somewhere in the cloud. They don't care about your pictures!

Fourth, when you're using Picasa, you're working entirely on your own computer. The only time they get something, is when you sent it using the "Edit in Creative Kit" button. Download and It does everything locally; opens your shot, edits it, and saves it locally, and only goes out to the 'Net for upgrading. You haven't opened any inner doors in your computer.

Everything I've read in this forum concerning troubles with Picasa stems from folks who think Picasa - read Google - is snaking into their computer. "Picasa downloaded my entire hard drive..." No it didn't, it simply went out, sorted through the mess, looked at what you have, organized it, then made it easy for you to get to it whenever you use Picasa. The folks at Google are on the very cutting edge of software development. For them to put Picasa out there, for free, it has to work, and to make it work, it has to be good.

Again, all this is based solely on my experience and time using Picasa. I think it's great. It isn't everything - those of you who use PhotoShop have far more creativity at your fingertips that Picasa has to offer. I use it as part of a group of PP tools; what one doesn't have, another will.

Please - everyone - feel free to add or argue. Thanks for taking the time to read this...

I think your entire post was excellent, and very well put. This entire business of people worrying about their pictures being taken "up into the cloud" may very well be a confusion between Picasa and Picasa Web Albums.

I have used Picasa for many years, to catalog my photos and make them easy to find, edit and view. I have never had a problem.

I also use Picasa Web Albums to share photos with members of my photography club. I very often create slide shows that I place on our web site. For an example, see http://www.pcqc.org/antelope%20canyon%20trip%202011.htm.