I ran across this interesting post from TechCrunch this morning on Google and their social networking plans. The part that really got my attention was this bit at the end:
The bigger vision is to combine all of Google’s apps and services through Maka-Maka. Google already has so much data on you, depending on how many Google apps you already use. It just needs to bring everything together. Your contacts are in Gmail. Your feeds are in Google Reader. Your IM buddy list is in Gtalk. Your upcoming events are in Google Calendar. Your widgets are in iGoogle. And don’t forget about your search history. Overtime, Google will connect all of these together in different ways, along with data about you from other social services across the Web, and give developers access to the social layer tying all of these apps together underneath. The real killer app for Google is not to turn Orkut into a Facebook clone. It is to turn every Google app into a social application without you even noticing that you’ve joined yet another social network.
As somebody who's a self-proclaimed Google whore (I use search, Gmail, Reader, Calendar, Gtalk, and the yet unmentioned Docs), this is both exciting and scary. Exciting in the sense that I love it when all of my info and apps link together seamlessly (part of why I love Mac), but scary in that it's somebody other than me controlling all of my info and now is looking at how to make it more available to others.
On the faith side this is certainly points out the need to live above reproach and makes our lives that much more transparent, but it also means that in an age where information is power, our information will be that much more accessible to everybody, including those who have evil intentions.
How much do you trust Google with your life?
I'm starting to wonder about Google. They've openly said that in a few years they will have so much information on us that they will be able to predict things like our favorite color and the types of food we like. I'm starting to wonder if Google isn't big brother.
And, all of this info is used to make them money. It is used to help them advertise better. It's for their gain in the end, not mine. Do I trust them? Do I trust a mega business with capitalistic money making intentions that makes most of it's money on advertising? Even with their do no evil slogan I don't think I do.
Maybe if they were a non-profit with an oversight board. But, they are a company that's been criticized for having one of the worst privacy policies out there while they admit they keep all the info they can get their hands on about us.