> 2. google intentionally gathers more data cutting across more domains for > more people across the world than perhaps any other single organisation, > making it a uniquely concentrated potential point of failure for privacy, > whether through security problems (or more to the point) government > demands. as someone noted, all companies (have to) have procedures for > dealing with government data requests, so one should worry about those
I agree with Rishab, and I will add another reason why Google is of particular concern. I have extensive experience in responding to subpoenas from government authorities. In my experience, the biggest problem (with large fishing expeditions in particular) is actually finding and gathering and organizing the information requested in a subpoena its harder than you think in a global corporation. Theres so much information, some of it may or may not be responsive to the subpoena, but may be privileged, or not be privileged, the interaction with local laws is complex and so on (what if responding to a US subpoena means breaching EU data protection laws? Do you go for the rock or the hard place?). Some issues just have to be dealt with, but a company with a mission with to organize the worlds information is going to find it WAY easier to respond to such subpoenas than your average Global MegaCorp Ltd (or even a Microsoft or Yahoo). That is, Google doesnt just have the most information, it also has it in the easiest, most accessible form.
