Not a great week for Google

First there were the Shiv-Sainiks... forcing the cyber-cafe owners to block orkut.. Well, perhaps we can dismiss this as a cheap political stunt, which in all likelihood would last only for a few more days...

But then came the big blow on 9th June... An organization called Privacy International released the "Privacy Ranking of Internet Service Companies".. Google was ranked at the bottom ... below Microsoft, eBay, Amazon and many others.. Here is the link to the rankings..The organization has also gone into great detail to explain why they put Google at the bottom. To quote them..

In summary, Google's specific privacy failures include, but are by no means limited to:

* Google account holders that regularly use even a few of Google's services must accept that the company retains a large quantity of information about that user, often for an unstated or indefinite length of time, without clear limitation on subsequent use or disclosure, and without an opportunity to delete or withdraw personal data even if the user wishes to terminate the service.
* Google maintains records of all search strings and the associated IP-addresses and time stamps for at least 18 to 24 months and does not provide users with an expungement option. While it is true that many US based companies have not yet established a time frame for retention, there is a prevailing view amongst privacy experts that 18 to 24 months is unacceptable, and possibly unlawful in many parts of the world.
* Google has access to additional personal information, including hobbies, employment, address, and phone number, contained within user profiles in Orkut. Google often maintains these records even after a user has deleted his profile or removed information from Orkut.
* Google collects all search results entered through Google Toolbar and identifies all Google Toolbar users with a unique cookie that allows Google to track the user's web movement.17 Google does not indicate how long the information collected through Google Toolbar is retained, nor does it offer users a data expungement option in connection with the service.
* Google fails to follow generally accepted privacy practices such as the OECD Privacy Guidelines and elements of EU data protection law. As detailed in the EPIC complaint, Google also fails to adopted additional privacy provisions with respect to specific Google services.
* Google logs search queries in a manner that makes them personally identifiable but fails to provide users with the ability to edit or otherwise expunge records of their previous searches.
* Google fails to give users access to log information generated through their interaction with Google Maps, Google Video, Google Talk, Google Reader, Blogger and other services.

.. and we all believed in Google's "Don't be Evil" philosophy..huh..

Jokes apart, I'm not entirely convinced that Google deserves to be at the bottom. I've to find out more about this paper to draw any conclusions. Till then if you want to read more about this organization and this study, then .. well just Google it..