[jsnell]

You're providing innuendo and "exercises for the reader", not an argument. That's pretty weak.

What would such a data set of Redmond be worth to Google? Nothing. Because accessing those networks for industrial espionage (if I read your innuendo right) would be illegal and immoral. It would drag Google's name in the mud, lose them customers, credibility, and most likely a decent chunk of talented employees. The liabilities would be massive. And what's the gain? I don't know what you think it would be, but it'd have to be pretty damn valuable to outweigh the potential costs.

As for monetization... Android is a moat. The way things are going, whoever controls the client operating system controls the default web browser and the default web search. This is an existential threat to Google. Microsoft winning the mobile OS war would soon make Bing the leading search engine. Apple conclusively winning would allow them to charge monopoly rents on access to the users.

It's like Google Toolbar back in the day. It's possible it provided some information about user behavior. But the real value came in that it added a visible Google search box into IE.

[brudgers]

I look at the money.

Google made $10 billion last year.

In a cyber-war, how much would the Kremlin pay to disrupt every Chinese WiFi network to which an Android device has a current password?

In a shooting war, how much would the US pay? Keep in mind that the modern battlefield increasingly uses ordinary data devices particularly in counter-insurgency operations.

Jim McDonnell, Donald Douglas, Jack Northrup and Leroy Grumman did not start out as defense contractors. They diversified their corporations when voluntarily seizing the opportunity was a good alternative to the threat of compulsion during the Second World War.

This may in fact be the one time that the rules are different. But there's very little historical precedent upon which to premise such a belief. GM produces military vehicles. Westinghouse and GE produce powerplants for ballistic missile submarines.

[edit] The question of how plaintext leads directly to Google profits remains unaddressed. It is not as if Android users can recover their passwords by calling up Google customer service. On the other hand, storing passwords in plain text is usually a decision made to facilitate requests from a company's customers. Asking who constitutes Google's customers is a reasonable place to start when inferring motives.[/edit]

[mik3y]

  I look at the money.

  In a cyber-war, how much would the Kremlin pay to
  disrupt every Chinese WiFi network to which an Android 
  device has a current password?

Do you think Larry Page can be bought?

I'm serious: You need to consider the way Google is run before deciding if any of these theories are plausible.

This is a company which has a history of spurning money-making opportunities in favor of some higher ideal (often times to the chagrin of business-minded types within the company). To give a few examples: Licensing Android, complying with China, accepting paid placements, etc.

You can argue each of those decisions was actually more profitable for Google in the end. And that's the point: Google would not make $10B next year if they sold out their users to the Kremlin this year.

[brudgers]

My opinion about Larry Page's price is that it depends upon who is buying and what they are offering. An offer similar to one from the Kremlin which is easy to refuse might be one he cannot refuse from Fort Meade.

But lest my meaning is misunderstood, an offer from Fort Meade might be one Mr. Page gladly accepts as a US national - I certainly have no more reason to question his patriotism than to believe it to be partisan in the extreme.

Even removing patriotism from the equation, developing and maintaining good relations with governments and their agencies involved across national borders probably makes sound business sense for a company of Google's size. And I have little doubt that Mr. Page places substantial value on international business opportunities.

[mullingitover]

> Do you think Larry Page can be bought?

Absolutely. His price is letting him remain a billionaire. I'm of the opinion that most billionaires would sell their own mothers to organ harvesters if failure to do so would result in them becoming poor.

[baq]

...but the NSA most likely has access to this data right now, for free.