I don't think it's really for google to make the kind of compromise the author is talking about, or wrestle with it. The reason is that google represents one s

I don't think it's really for google to make the kind of compromise the author is talking about, or wrestle with it. The reason is that google represents one side of the tension, and we the users represent the other. When people (like the author) move from google in sufficient numbers, Google will /have/ to notice, because while more information is better for them, there's a break even point between "more information" and "fewer users." That's a point they'll discover through the tension between their company goal and the users' willingness to expose themselves, not by "thinking hard" about it.