jtara - 5:48 pm on Jun 10, 2007 (gmt 0)

I make a point of using no Google hosted services, and I do not log-in to access Google. I always urge others not to use Google hosted services.

The big problem I have with Google hosted services is not privacy, though, but loss of control over data. While the data MAY be encrypted as Google claims, one is relying 100% on Google to not lose it, and unless there have been some recent developments, they make it difficult or impossible to back-up.

Unfortunately, I have a Google user ID because I have an Adwords account. I'm not happy that in order to have an Adwords account, I need to have a universal Google ID.

(The irony is that I need TWO Google IDs - one for my Adwords account, and one for my MCC account. So much for universality!)

I assume, nevertheless, that my search actions can be and are connected to my Google ID through cookies, so I avoid using Google and use Ask.com most of the time. Unfortunately, their results are not always timely, so I have to use Google when searching for current events, etc.