Just an example: removing certain sites from their autocomplete feature was not forced upon them. They are not required to do this, and they are not transparent

Just an example: removing certain sites from their autocomplete feature was not forced upon them. They are not required to do this, and they are not transparent about it. Their transparency is also limited to what is forced upon them, not what they do themselves, quietly and secretly. Also note that other properties, like the massively censored YouTube, are completely omitted from their transparency report (unless it ironically enough involves removing links to YouTube...). The little bit Google is transparent about when it comes to what they omit from "organizing the world's information and make it universally accessible" (Google's mission statement) is only what suits them. It's a marketing tool to sell the message "it's not our fault". Transparency and openness are not part of Google's DNA, that bit is just marketing. It's not the flaws in the system that bother me, this is stuff is hard. It's the marketing-driven pretense of caring and at the same time arrogantly telling us "suckers" to go f* ourselves.