You're making a good point with the "there is no getting back". I kind of trust Google based on their track record but you can never be sure about the future[1]

You're making a good point with the "there is no getting back". I kind of trust Google based on their track record but you can never be sure about the future[1]. But all in all what matters is not whether I can trust them perfectly, it's that to me the expected benefits are concrete and vastly outweigh the theoretical risks. I guess I'm in a privileged position such that I wouldn't even mind having most of these data made public to help with this kind of research[2]. To me it is more about progressivism vs. conservatism than about faith in a particular company (though I do worry that one company might concentrate too much power). [1] Although Google's direction is arguably more stable than is usual for publicly traded companies, given the particular share structure designed to keep control in the hands of the founders. [2] Mostly, being in generally good health and living in a country where basic health insurance is guaranteed and good enough, with premiums that don't depend on your health.