Hello, i’m sorry you had to personally be downvoted for Google’s misbehavior. I may have disagreements with your (past?) ethics/politics (i genuinely hope you can sleep at night after working for Google/Instacart) but i checked out your blog and there’s some cool stuff on there so i’m taking a minute to answer :)

Unfortunately it is impossible to know for sure they are complying with the privacy policy, but this applies to all providers

That is precisely why we should evaluate the trust we place in a given actor who provides us with services. In the case of Google, i give it exactly 0/20. But to be honest, it’s not just Google, any for-profit entity gets 0/20 because our interests are fundamentally opposed: making money to survive in this capitalist hell is something we all have to do (and we all get our hands dirty to some extent, i’m not here to judge), but making money as a collective goal is guaranteed to have bad outcomes for everyone (except the shareholders, because these vampires always find a way to survive).

When money is made in a non-profit settings with equal pay for everyone and full transparency on goals and funds, then the interests of the association/cooperative don’t have to be opposed to ours as end-users. I’d rather donate for services from a non-profit who’ll still be around for at least a decade (like Framasoft) than place my trust blindly in a commercial actor who’s part of the system ruining everyone’s lives and destroying the environment, and i think the same goes for a lot of people here.

Google is pretty much part of the military industrial complex by now, and has been acting against the interest of users/humanity for well over a decade. They’re also collaborating with governments and copyright holders across the globe to take down content and imprison people (i’m NOT talking about child pornography here). Also, the centralized model of Internet and surveillance they promote is directly responsible for ecological damage: Internet without trackers wouldn’t require so much resources both client and server side.

Google do not deserve a new chance, ever again. All that’s left to do with Google (or any private company for that matter) is to burn it down in opposition (as people in Berlin’s Kreuzberg neighborhood have done) and/or walkout (as Google employees themselves have done). We’re better off building alternatives on our own, and you’re welcome to help! :)

Feel free to check out libreho.st, chatons.org and tildeverse.org for example lists of non-profit service providers who may need help developing/integration/deploying services. Take care