I'm afraid I didn't read the article as I don't as a matter of principle view anything on facebook.com, but this made me chuckle when I saw it last month. I thought it was particularly spot-on:

http://rickwebb.tumblr.com/post/14467269283/god-i-am-getting-so-fed-up-with-google-this-is

I don't mind the Social relevance in my Google searches as long as they are clearly marked and I have the option to see un-personalized searches as well. I would hope my friends post good, meaningful stories they want to share as instead of just cat pictures.

I think Google haters go a bit overboard.

Granted, it does know a lot about us, but compared to other companies they seem to have a user's privacy in mind when developing a lot of their products.

@Paul
I agree with you there. In fact, they have updated their terms and privacy policy that goes effective March 1. It's A LOT simpler to read and understand.

Also, another move they did or are doing by April is moving picnik.com to users who only have google +

I guess Google can do what it pleases with the products and services they offer. They are offering me a service and my fee is to agree to their terms of service. There is nothing forcing me to use Google at all.

this just in:

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/01/25/1333246/google-consolidates-privacy-policies-across-services

I don't care if google sells its soul, it never had a soul to begin with. it's *my* soul where I get fickle.

I guess it's time to rediscover the lost art of bookmarking... because, believe it or not, search engines need web content much more than web content need search engines.

@Johann
Read the article. I like this comment from the article link you posted:

“People need to wake up and realize there is no "free" service. Google provides things that cost them substantial dollars to create and maintain but users do not directly pay for. Your information is what you trade for Google's services. No one is forced or coerced into using Google's services. There are alternatives out there that you can pay for and expect lock your privacy down.

It is no different than anything else. There is a restaurant in town I will not go to because their service is pitiful. I refuse to support their model with my dollars. If you don't like Google's practices, you are free to take your private information to another email/search/whatever provider.

Of course most of this is wasted thought, because many of those complaining about Google violating their privacy just updated their location from their phone, posted what they had for breakfast on Facebook, and tweeted details of their morning bowel movement.”

yeah I know, the usual spineless strawman deployment. those are a dime a dozen. I prefer this comment myself:

“Yes but will you now admit that "do no evil" is no different and just as much bullshit as "think different" or "What do you want to do today?" (had to go look that last one up, wow MSFT sucks at catch phrases don't they?) because all three are NOTHING but marketing BS. If Google could make an extra 15% by throwing a random Google user into a pit of horny gorillas i have no doubt we'd be seeing gorilla loving on YouTube before the day was out. it doesn't matter HOW a company starts out once they get to a certain level there is simply too large and powerful an org there to be controlled by some silly catch phrase, no different than how Apple is nothing like that garage that Woz and Jobs hand built the first boards in.

What scares me isn't this so much as i expected this would be coming, but the quite disturbing 'treat corporations like ballclubs' complete with cheering and booing. These companies aren't FOR you, hell the ballclubs aren't FOR you as khan let slip with his "I only care about season ticket holders" gaffe, so cheering and booing these corps is not only stupid but more than a little dangerous because it gives these corps more power. If congress started investigating Google how many letters do you think would be wrote telling them to /slips blanket over head/ "Leave poor Google alone" do you think? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? as the economies of the world continue to sour these corps are gonna get nastier folks, once they are used to making X profits they simply aren't gonna settle for X-Y which is why we got the *.A.As pushing SOPA/PIPA because god forbid they don't meet the quarterly earnings reports, so please, judge companies by their douchebag behavior, not some marketing slogan.”

I'm tired of this BS. google hasn't made a single website that doesn't suck ass in 15 years of "being the web". google is pretty much full of it, to the brim. and no, that others are worse doesn't help. that's like excusing the nazis with stalin, FUCK THAT TO HELL.

oh, and this anon reply to the comment you posted is from me:

“no, actually quite a lot of people aren't complete tools. funny how you cannot fathom that option, and have to deride the criticism you first pretend to consider valid, as hipocrisy... when in reality you're really just wanking over a strawman of your own creation.

fuck you and the whores you rode in on.”

as you can tell, I pretty much decided against civil discussion from the outset. as chomsky said, people with power understand one thing and one thing only, violence. so fuck google, and the visitors that come to my site through it. (I'll be sure to tell them, too -- not in the delusion that it will change the world, or that anyone will care, but just to feel excited and interested in web stuff again, instead of wading through turd soup)

The more I read about the unhappy public towards Google's new privacy policy and Google inflating their search results with crappy social media Google plus, the more I don't care. At first I did care: Google was an awesome product with superior search results and email; and it was free! Now, F*#$k it. Nobody is forcing me to use Google. If I don't like what they are doing, then don't use the product. I'm not paying for it. It's that simple and it's my conclusion. If you don't like Google storing your private information that they state in their privacy policy, then don't use them. Go to duck duck go. BTW, by you I mean the public in general, not anyone particular in this forum.

If people would stop complaining about Google and just stop using it, that would be more effective. And if Google cared that millions of people are dropping off, then they would change or die off. Before search engines there was...well, I don't remember. Once search engines become irresponsible and irrelevant, a new being in the evolutionary process will come forth :)

The only way to have some peace on the internet :
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/adblockc.png/