Of all the web firms ranked in a report by Privacy International, only Google has been pegged as "hostile to privacy." The report calls the company's practices a "race to the bottom" of privacy standards for web users, BBC reports:
Privacy International placed Google at the bottom of its ranking because of the sheer amount of data it gathers about users and their activities; because its privacy policies are incomplete and for its poor record of responding to complaints.
It's a major slam, and a scary idea for people who use to Google for searches, RSS reading, email, maps, calendar -- basically to operate their entire virtual life. The Guardian's technology blog discusses the impact to Google, which is the same company that recently peeped into people's houses all over America with their new "Street View" feature. Now's a good time to reacquaint yourself with the Mother Jones piece from last year, "Is Google Evil?" and with Googlewatch.org. And, if you use Gmail like I do, to seriously consider making a switch. Any ideas?
* Whoops, they just updated the Reader interface and it erased all my subscriptions!