Google and privacy: What’s the problem?

It's the size and reach of Google, though, that magnifies the concern, and that's something there's no escaping from. At a point where privacy concerns are pretty paramount anyway, the firm has brought in arguably the biggest such change in its history. This remains so no matter how much it argues that "these changes will make our services even better"

If the firm hoped that the speed of the implementation of its changes would lessen the scrutiny of them, then it's out of luck. Murmurings suggest several individual countries may be on the warpath here, although hard action is likely to be thin on the ground.

The likelihood is that Google will win its gamble, that the furore will die down, and that the firm's advertising revenues will increase. It may yet, though, have a price to pay, if not now, then the next time it comes to make a sizeable change.