Why I'm not giving up my Google apps

I use more than a dozen different Google services on a regular basis. Is that a bad thing for my privacy? I don't think so. After researching the privacy issues for "What Google knows about you" and hearing all of the pros and cons, I don't plan to drop any Google apps. But I have changed my online behavior a bit. I'm more informed now, and I have taken advantage of some of the privacy controls that Google offers.

I will continue to use products such as Google Search, Gmail and the Chrome browser because they have clean, fast and simple user interfaces that I like. In return for free use of these tools, I give up some personal information, which Google uses to display targeted advertisements within those applications.

What exactly does that bargain entail? Google tries to glean what "interest categories" I fit into based on Web pages I've visited in the past and what I'm doing at the moment within a given Google application -- what I'm searching for or the subject in the e-mail message currently on my screen (several sensitive subject areas excluded).

This information, stored in Google's server logs, is linked to my computer using a single, unique identifying number -- a browser cookie ID -- that I can delete at any time. Google allows me to control the interest categories it uses in its Ad Preferences Manager, or opt out. If I opt out, I'll see random ads. If I stay in, however, I'll see advertisements that make more sense for me personally. I'm OK with that.

I maintain control over the content I create in Gmail, Google Docs and other Google services. I know that Google is sharing some information among these services to allow for some level of integration, but I see no evidence that Google is aggregating server log data and content I create to build some sort of uber-profile about me.

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