Google is the new horseman of the ever-approaching privacy apocalpyse, according to an article in Reuters. Why? Because Google lets you keep your email (on its Gmail service) "forever," though the article doesn't explain what exactly the privacy risk is there. And, being fundamentally in the business of aggregating, analyzing and mining data, it keeps search, IP and other logging data for a long time, too. What's the problem with that? Lauren Weinstein, of People for Internet Responsibility -- an organization whose slick, professional website suggests it has not done or even said all that much lately (though Weinstein's blog look somewhat active) -- tells Reuters, "There's really no good reason to hold onto that information for more than a few months. . . . [Google] seem[s] to think that because their motives are pure that everything is OK and they can operate on a trust basis. History tells us that is not the case."
Huh? Google doesn't have to justify its motives -- which it never claimed were pure; see their stock price, thank you -- and you don't have to trust Google at all. Just don't use it.
How long until some representative demagogues this one on Capital Hill?
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