While I agree with you that the real solution is better privacy protections enshrined in law, I have to point out that you can't really derive an "ought" from a

While I agree with you that the real solution is better privacy protections enshrined in law, I have to point out that you can't really derive an "ought" from an "is". In other words, the fact that corporations are amoral doesn't mean that Google ought to be amoral too, especially given their claim that they "do no evil". I think that's the author's point: he's not saying that they're doing anything illegal, just that they're failing to live up to the standards they've set for themselves.