HOW TO WORK WITH GOOGLE

The point is that Google has email, documents, Analytics, 
AdWords, AdSense, bookmarking, cell phone, video and many other 
technologies where you will leave a footprint. With Facebook and 
Yahoo, you'll leave footprints but Yahoo and Facebook do not (and are 
not) developing all the multiple ways to get your information the same 
way that Google does.


* Google has a lot more data than most people are aware of.  Every time
you hit their servers by browsing to a Web site that uses their services
(AdSense, Analytics, Google Toolbar, DoubleClick, YouTube, Feedburner,
Google cookies, etc.) you are leaving your footprints in their logs.

* The US government already has the "right" to full, secret access to
all of Google's data:


* That data is a big prize for whoever can gain access.  What happens
when Google sells?  Or the political situation turns for the worse?  Or
people from other countries want that information?  Everything you ever
did online is in Google's servers, ready to be data-mined by people with
bad intentions. Recent example of how data can be abused:


There are some well-meaning people at Google, but I don't think they are
looking at the bigger picture.  Google doesn't have to "do evil" - the
act of collecting that much personal data is evil in itself.

It's best not to use Gmail or other Google services.  Don't surf the Web
while logged into a Google account.  Use the Customize Google Firefox
Extension privacy settings to block some of Google's tracking:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/743

Further reading on Google's creepy interest in personal data:

Google's eavesdropping technology:
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17354&ch=infotech

Google wants to store all of your hard drive data:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4782108.stm
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/08/google_spooks_gdrive/

Google will track your location with your cell phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6gqipmbcok



It's really hard to live today without leaving some type of digital
footprint .... no matter what web service you use (although I have no love
for google, they are one of the many, not the single evil empire).
On the same theme but broader in scope, you may enjoy this article from
Popular Science.
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-02/anonymity-experiment
"During a week of attempting to cloak every aspect of daily life, our
correspondent found that in an information age, leaving no trace is nearly
impossible "

Evil or not, a lot of people use Google's services and I discovered with some dismay that when you use one Google account to pull your e-mail via POP and then send from your google account as that other "identity" google exposes the information about the main google account you are using to everyone who gets mail from that "identity." So, yes, while you can set your FROM: and your REPLYTO: it stills lists "Mailed for: [your google account]" on all your outgoing mail. Just something to be aware of if you're trying to keep, for example, your Second Life and your business identities separate but want the convenience of only having to go one place for mail.