[UweSchmidt]

Thanks for the answer. I understand that times have changed and that revealing that you're from Google is not as fun as it used to be.

The distinction you seem to be making between data that Google has and data that is "revealed to anyone" is misleading in my opinion. No matter who has the data, "privacy" is concerned.

Also I need to call you out on your blanket statements that Google developers have no access to that data (clearly, some would, as part of their jobs, also [1]), and that data is not revealed to anyone (seriously?). As of January 2014, this position is not defensible and you might have to face a more nuanced, and possibly inconvenient reality.

http://gawker.com/5637234/gcreep-google-engineer-stalked-tee...

[aniket_ray]

Thanks for understanding.

The reference you point out was a one-off event from 2010 though, and a lot of our systems and checks have developed in the subsequent years to prevent a recurrence.

I'll concede the point about my blanket statement especially when talking about NSA and Government espionage though. All I can say is Google does fight in courts against that. I wish I had a good way to stop spying completely. All we can do is continue to make our encryption stronger.

[UweSchmidt]

Additionally, when the dust settles and people figure out what's really going on in all those data-collection companies, we need clear regulations what kind of data may be collected, how it is used and when it must be deleted.

The data, properly analyzed, represents an immense power and has to be transparent and under democratic control. In the EU the first steps go into this direction already.