Not sure about Google

[Lamplighter]

This is an interesting article and project... "Do No Evil" ... particularly to me as an Google uber-fan.
And as someone who loves it when "hoisted with his own petard" happens in real life.

eWeek.com
Clint Boulton
1/23/12
Facebook Targets Google+ With 'Don't Be Evil' Tool

Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have ganged up on Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG)
controversial personal search results feature with Focus on the User,
an effort to show what Google's search results would be like
if they retrieved results from other Web services.<snip>

The output of Focus on the User is the Don't Be Evil bookmarklet,
which taps Google's own ranking of its organic search results to determine
what social content should appear in Google+ results
--such as results from Facebook, Twitter and other sources
--instead of just the Google+ posts, photos and brand pages that currently surface
in Search, plus your world.<snip>

How does this Google+-modifying hack work?
For results where Google decided that it's relevant to surface Google+ pages
as a result in any of the areas where Google+ content is hardcoded,
the bookmarklet searches Google for the name of the Google+ page.

From there, the tool identifies the social profiles within Google's top 100 results.
"The ones Google ranks highest—whether they are from Flickr, Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn, MySpace, Quora, Tumblr, Foursquare, Crunchbase, FriendFeed,
Stack Overflow, Github or Google+
— replace the previous results that could only be from Google+,"
according to the Focus on the User FAQ page.

Oh, oh, wait: here comes a man in a business suit...

The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly taking on the issue as part of its antitrust investigation into Google's search business.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Google knows the name of the-man-in-the-suit's mistress, swiss account number, and deepest secret fear.

[Lamplighter]

My opinion of the new management at Google is dropping rapidly...

Caveat emptor !

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...HOQ_story.html
Washinton Post
Cecilia Kang
1/24/12
Google announces privacy settings change across products, users can’t opt out

Google said Tuesday it will require users to allow the company
to follow their activities across e-mail, search, YouTube and other services,
a radical shift in strategy that is expected to invite greater scrutiny of its privacy and competitive practices.

The information will enable Google to develop a fuller picture of how people use
its growing empire of Web sites. Consumers will have no choice but to accept the changes.
The policy will take effect March 1 and will also impact Android mobile phone users,
who are required to log-in to Google accounts
<snip>