Google is an interesting company. They don't penalize any employee for a failed product and all employees are allowed to spend time on concepts they thought up. I remember when the internet as a whole was that way, but now most dotcoms are all SRS BSNS and corporatized. I always like to watch a new Google product for a bit before I sign up. It's kind of like buying the first generation of a new car - the bugs haven't even been thought of yet.
As a white hat hacker, um... I mean Strategic Data Analyst... let me address privacy concerns: if you want something to remain private, keep it off the computer. Don't scan it, don't sit it near your computer, don't tell your kids who own and use a computer... You can find EVERYTHING on the internet if you look hard enough. It's actually how I found our oldest child after DFCS had lost his file, placed him in a group home, and told him he had just imagined having siblings. Privacy is just an illusion - people who want to find info on you can find it and people who don't care just don't look hard enough. The trick is to generate so much information that the bad stuff is buried under a pile of stuff you want people to see. Most folks won't click more than 3 pages into a search engine and honestly, most people aren't interesting enough to give more than 3 clicks to.