Like I pointed out earlier, I have no clue why the dpad is on the right side and not the left.

And yes it's scary what profiles can be built on you. Though if it does concern you (like it use to concern me.. but since I'm a Federal employee now there's no point anymore since the government can easily figure this stuff out without Google's help) you can get around those problems while still using their services. It just takes more time and several accounts (and accessing those accounts randomly). Or using one gmail account and say some other web email account and having one email for each specialized purpose.

Or you can trick the system if you want to.

But... but... I thought Google controlled the entire world.

Jokes aside, you can't escape from Google with a phone (especially an Android phone), since each phone has an unique serial number, which can be tracked as well, especially if Google makes an OS especially for this purpose. I high doubt Google only registers what a specific user does.

There's no easy way to escape from Google with a phone, at least not something that most people would do. Though you probably could with a combination of SSH to a computer + using a proxy, tor, or VPN solution like the Pirate Bay's IFPRED.

Edit: There is a Firefox addon I believe that disables Google's tracking cookie that they implement. Though that only helps with searches I think.

Having an xterm available to be able to SSH into servers is immensely useful.

Being able to have multiple xterm SSH sessions open to multiple servers and being able to view their realtime console monitors from the dashboard is going to totally rock my world.

One of the neatest side-effects of using Skype is that it is end-to-end encrypted. I really hope they haven't broken that on the N900's implementation.

That does assume that the NSA doesn't have a back door into their encryption. Not to mention that if they are really interested they can probably crack the encryption in near real time.

If you want to be worried, don't worry about Google, worry about governments.

That extension would be OptimizeGoogle. It used to be CustomizeGoogle, but development on that fizzled out.

I'd also check out BetterPrivacy which deletes cookies Local Shared Objects (LSO), also known as flash cookies.

Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out (TACO) sets non personally identifiable opt-out cookies which block various online advertising networks.

And, of course, AdBlock Plus with Easy List and Easy Privacy subscriptions.

It's really not so simple as to not use Google services or turn on Firefoxes privacy mode, to opt out of being tracked by Google. Google tracks people's online behavior by IP address. So every time you do a search with Google, logged in or not, they track where you surf to and log it by IP address. But even if you don't use Google for search at all, you still get tracked in many instances. A huge percentage of web sites embeds Google Analytics code in them. Another nice "free" service Google gives away that lets web sites track their usage statistics. But it also allows Google to track anyone who visits those websites, crossreference it by IP address, and add the information to their data base. So you can opt not to use any Google services at all and Google is still compiling a large data base of your web behavior.

Sooner or later you do something online that also allows Google to figure out who you actually are (name, address). It doesn't take that much information to uniquely identify someone. Then that goes into their data base too and even if you change IP addresses, they can eventually figure out that it's the same person and that gets cross referenced too.

Completely turning off javascript can stop some of this tracking. But then the web ceases to function as you and I know it. So you may as well just stop surfing altogether.

So there is a real privacy concern here. If people don't care, fine. But there's no reason to mock those who do care. One of the problems is that even if Google does not abuse this information and only uses it for commercial purposes, it doesn't mean that others won't eventually abuse this information. I've seen political scientists and historians talk about this and make the simple point that if you look at history, every time someone has amassed this kind of massive database of information about individuals, eventually it gets abused. It's too tempting, especially for governments, to subpoena or seize the information and use it for their own purposes. It has already been revealed that tens of thousands of secret subpoenas have been issued in the U.S., under the Patriot Act, to carry out investigations that have nothing to do with terrorism. That makes these subpoenas illegal under the Patriot Act, but since a secret court oversees them and they can't be reviewed for "national security" reasons, no one can enforce the law on these subpoenas. So I think it's naive to imagine that sooner or later Google's database won't be abused, whether or not it's Google doing the abusing.

I don't really care if people consider this "evil" or not. The word is a bit over the top and distracting to the conversation. But there is a real profound privacy issue here, whether or not everyone cares.

Then you don't know much about the Dallas Fort Worth grocery market. I live in DFW, Texas, the most competitive grocery market in the US. We have more choices than anywhere else. Walmart has begun building what they call "Neighborhood WalMarts", smaller grocery only stores, with pricing different from the Walmart Supercenters just minutes away. They compete to undercut the incumbent stores in some markets, and in others where there is no competition, they actually RAISE prices from the Supercenters. Once the competitors close, they raise prices higher, so you pay for them being closer, but save by going to the Supercenters. They've killed many great grocers and made it hard for the poor without transportation in the city. This is leaving many grocery stores that were employers in the neighborhoods empty, less jobs, higher grocery prices, bad choice of meats and produce (WalMart doesn't offer any local produce or have a butcher for custom cuts of meat) and less choice of everything. Now you have to go to Whole Foods (EXPENSIVE!!) for good produce, and Albertson's (only one left in the city, used to be at least 5) for affordable better cuts of meat. The US isn't like your country, and it pays to listen sometimes when you don't know firsthand. Ask Texrat, who's from the same metro area, and he'll tell you. Its a big issue in the US.
I don't think I was ranting, just observing a situation that can have grim repercussions on consumers. Just my analyst brain at work. I DO have ideas about Google's intent, but I'm not so against them. I prefer my personal info be private, but I am willing to give up something for something in return. I just wished Google were more upfront about how invasive they are. I like Microsoft, and Google is similar in its world domination intentions. I wasn't saying Google WILL start charging, but that they could at the peril of consumers without a viable alternative is bad news, and Ovi has to step up and be a better alternative. Tom Tom will be dead soon unless Apple buys them.