This seems fishy. I know for a fact that google doesn't allow others to use their search engine for free (even google custom search has an API call limit nowadays) and that was one of the reasons scroogle.org was shut down. Also I know that using the google logo if you are not Google is prohibited (http://www.google.com/permissions/using-the-logo.html).

So either google knows it and tolerates it (why should it?) or it is run by them to create a false sense of privacy.