[rbarooah]

You're ignoring the fact that it's the user's data - not Google's. At least according to Google's philosophy it is, and it's the users who reap the benefits.

Remember, people actually want to export their contact information from gmail rather than having to find all their friends manually, and now Google is telling them they can't because Google doesn't like Facebook's policies.

If Google believed in openness they wouldn't make that decision for their users, they would let their users decide.

Google is playing hardball by taking away data portability to their users. Hardly a good example to set.