It may be Google's data, but it's you they'll arrest
(Computerworld Malaysia)

Right now, Google feels like a much bigger threat to my privacy than Microsoft and Yahoo combined.

For example, try asking Google what it's planning to do with all the user information it collects after it has fully digested DoubleClick? Or why it needs to retain IP addresses for Google searches? Good luck getting any response at all.

In fact, Google's biggest privacy accomplishment in the last year has been deciding to hold onto users' IP addresses for only 18 months instead of 24. Gee, I feel more anonymous already. Don't you?

Last week, Google's Public Policy Blog posited the argument that IP addresses are not personal information, because they are often shared between machines and users. (Though, personally, my home office has a static IP.) This makes sense until you think about it for 15 seconds. Strangers have also occupied my home address in the past, and probably will do so in the future. But if you ring my doorbell today, I'm the one who answers.

Of course, Google won't share this information with anyone... unless they have a court order. Or a National Security Letter. Or maybe the spooks have already tapped into one of the Network Access Points outside the Googleplex.