I definitely want some of the magic pixie dust that Google uses. Google gets away with stuff that other companies--particularly Microsoft--get hammered for. But Google gets a free pass. Because it's Google. And everybody loves Google.

Microsoft faces constant scrutiny for the data it collects--or might collect--on its customers. Four years ago, when the company introduced "product activation" to stem piracy, privacy advocates cried foul. Likewise, Microsoft proposed technology code-named HailStorm as a way of consolidating login information for multiple sites; privacy concerns eventually scuttled that proposal.

Google regularly gets away with this kind of thing. According to its privacy policy, Google explicitly reserves the right to track every time you click on a link from one of its searches. If you use Gmail as your primary E-mail--and many people do--Google keeps a repository of all your E-mail, and indexes it for marketing purposes.

And yet there's no outcry against Google; nobody complains except for a few privacy advocates (and, unfortunately, the phrase "privacy advocate" these days is simply a polysyllabic way of saying "kook").

By tracking clicks and storing E-mail, Google is keeping a detailed dossier on each of its users Internet-usage habits. And that means it knows a lot about our real lives, too; because, here in the 21st century, our online habits are reflections of our real lives. We shop online, do finances online, we use the Internet to research our medical conditions, hobbies, and leisure activities.

Google recently updated its privacy policy to spell out more clearly how it's using the information it collects, and how it protects against abuse. But the new privacy policy remains silent on how long the information is kept.

Moreover, it's unclear what happens if the privacy policy gets violated. That repository of user information will be a big, juicy target for all sorts of people.

If there were a management change at Google, new management might decide it wants to exploit the information more aggressively and would likely find the law easy to get around if it does.

I expect courts to subpoena Google's records any minute now. I can imagine all sorts of interesting ways a person's Internet-usage habits could be handy evidence in a divorce trial, especially if infidelity or child custody are issues.

And hackers and criminals will find the repository to be a treasure trove for identity theft, corporate espionage, and blackmail.

Google is a great company. All of us use Google many times every day. I have a Google account and remain logged into it all day, so that I can enjoy the benefits of the personalized home page and Google Reader (which, by the way, is terrific). But I don't use Gmail, because I don't want to entrust Google with all my E-mail. (I mean, heck, forget about privacy; what about if their server crashes and it turns out the guy who was supposed to make backups was instead spending his days drinking Four Roses bourbon and watching The Guiding Light?)

Google's motto is, "You can make money without doing evil." But the company isn't staffed by angels; they are as capable of doing evil as any of the rest of us, and we are all very capable of doing evil when you put big buckets of money in front of us. The best way to help Google live up to its motto is to keep it under scrutiny and watch its business practices with a skeptical eye.

For more on the subject of Google and privacy, see an article from columnist Fred Langa earlier this year.