Google has long been approached with skepticism due to privacy concerns.  With the amount of data they collect, the breadth of knowledge they have culled from years of monitoring the internet, and the release of tools and applications which collect, analyze, combine, and display all this data in new ways, governments and informed individuals alike approach with trepidation.

Yesterday, April 19, 2010, the heads of ten different countries signed a letter addressed only to Google criticizing their privacy practices and launch of new products in beta format (we won't go in to the singling out of Google as opposed to Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL, but you have to have a new toy to bully). A brief snippet to give you a flavor for the letter:

"While your company addressed the most privacy-intrusive aspects of Google Buzz in the wake of this public protest and most recently (April 5, 2010) you asked all users to reconfirm their privacy settings, we remain extremely concerned about how a product with such significant privacy issues was launched in the first place.  We would have expected a company of your stature to set a better example.  Launching a product in “beta” form is not a substitute for ensuring that new services comply with fair information principles before they are introduced.

It is unacceptable to roll out a product that unilaterally renders personal information public, with the intention of repairing problems later as they arise.  Privacy cannot be sidelined in the rush to introduce new technologies to online audiences around the world."

Read the whole letter here.

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