[justinp]

Is it possible to read information stored in these files (i.e. saved icon positions and such)?

[cybergoober]

I believe so. I remember there was a big stink early in the OS X days about burning disks in the Finder and people potentially getting info from the .DS_Store files etc. Not too sure how much info can be obtained from these files, though.

[Basilisk]

Is it possible to read information stored in these files (i.e. saved icon positions and such)?

Not directly. The .DS_Store files are written by a private Finder framework, I don't believe anyone has reverse engineered the file format or the framework.

You can, of course, discover most (but not all) of the information stored in the .DS_Store about window position, etc. by using the AppleEvent interface to the Finder using AppleScript or the OSA language of your choice.

Alex