Google does some great stuff. I use them for searches, obviously. They’ve got a great RSS reader that I love to death, and gmail’s a wonderful throwaway mail account. I don’t have anything sensitive sent there — mainly because I simply don’t trust them.

Today, I learn ofGoogle Health, and I am afraid. Not for myself, mind you. I’m not going near it. But under what circumstances could someone possibly want to do something like this?

I barely trust them with throwaway e-mail information — why on earth would I want them indexing my personal medical information? What possible good can come of this, for anyone?

Google may have a mantra of “Do no evil”, but y’see, that’s not actually a legal and binding document. In fact, legally, Google is beholden to shareholders, since they’re a public company. Their first and primary obligation is to maximize shareholder return on investment. And if maximizing share value means selling off your medical data, they’re going to do that. But, even if they don’t, you’re still sharing way too much with them if you sign up for this.

Maybe one day you’re searching for something on Google, or reading your mail… maybe looking at your RSS feeds while someone’s shoulder-surfing. And up comes an ad for a medication that’s perhaps a bit personal. Because, really, serving up ads is the only revenue stream this has for them at the moment.

I don’t really have a point here — I’m just simply dumbfounded at the amount of trust people put into Google because it was founded by a couple of techy hackers.