Ultimately, I think that this article fallaciously anthropomorphizes Google, and that is the reason why the situation it posits seems so scary. Google is a mac

Ultimately, I think that this article fallaciously anthropomorphizes Google, and that is the reason why the situation it posits seems so scary. Google is a machine, designed by people. It is true that they have lots and lots of data about individuals, but it is being handled by vast amounts of software and hardware alongside so much other data about so many things about people that there is somewhat of an anonymizing factor. If Google were an individual, what they do would certainly be creepy, but they are not. To put paranoia to rest, it might be in their favor to enact transparent safeguards of some sort that assure consumers that their data is in general not being accessed by Google employees or nefarious third parties (the most notable nefarious third party being, of course, the government).