[shmulkey18]

"Yes, we've had our stumbles with privacy, but will Google be any better? Any legitimate complaints that I've heard are either something we're resolving or is an inherent problem that any social networking site will face." Wow -- this is nothing but a big swig of FB koolaid.

There's a huge difference in the way that Facebook and Google look at privacy and data ownership. And I think that difference comes from the founders of each company and has become firmly embedded in each company's DNA.

The difference has a name: Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg is an obviously amoral individual who has a history of violating other people's privacy (e.g. breaking into their email accounts) and who believes that all personal information should by default be public. He also has stated that freedom of speech is culturally relative, in a repulsive attempt to curry favor with the Chinese government. Contrast that with the bold stand that Google took when the Chinese government demanded that the company acquiesce in their repression of Chinese citizens.

Unlike FB, Google doesn't have a history of constantly changing privacy policies and making it very difficult to preserve privacy. And unlike FB, Google doesn't make it virtually impossible for a user to export the data that lives in their various services. In fact, provision of plans for export is a key requirement for Google products.

Google: don't be evil. FB: eh, who cares -- we're talking about making money here.