I don't have the experience you have, so I have to side with you on that basis alone. I don't find Google's moves sinister - they want to provide a better user

I don't have the experience you have, so I have to side with you on that basis alone. I don't find Google's moves sinister - they want to provide a better user experience in order to be a better (and more successful) business. Google's strategy has always been one that works symbiotically... If they think more of my data is going to help them do that, well, then they might be right... and they might be right that most people will be happy with this. I don't buy that this is a skunkworks project though - there are a lot of key individuals contributing to this. Putting out a browser like this is a pretty serious undertaking. It'll take a lot of resources to maintain, and carries the Google brand in an extremely public way. So whilst the origins might be up for argument, I think this is a very deliberate and strategic move on Google's part.