That's why I don't trust Google and would never buy a Nexus phone for the simple reason – that I can't trust them not to be tracking my every move and my calls – then reporting them to the NSA or some other govt entity. Google can very quickly become Big Brother's – Big Listener and Informer...use with caution.

Well, the Chinese hack has happened through a Google backdoor provided for the NSA and the likes:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/01/23/schneier.google.hacking/index.html
So no surpsrise here.
This is what Google privacy is about. The authorities know everthing about you google knows about you and a little more.

Google is already in bed with CIA, nothing surprising here.

Paranoia reigns supreme here. Please, enough about Google and the Nexus One. Anyone who is at all social--eg, Facebook, Twitter, search of any kind, credit/debit card use, taxpayers, telephone users, etc....believe me, you have left a trail. If you have nothing to hide, why be concerned? We are a country of laws and the Consititution and the Bill of Rights protect individual liberties. Any and all US corporation (hell, even foreign companies operating in US) have to perform what is required by a court order, if reasonably obtained.

I believe it is brilliant that the NSA will help Google make its case to the world. Do the Chinese pirates want to be now the focus of the NSA? Does the Chinese Government want to continue to support these illegal hackers that steal intellectual property and invade your privacy to obtain your views, bank details, credit card details, passwords, etc? I could think of a much better way to spend my day than have the full weight of the NSA bearing down on me. Google obviously is right and the Chinese government wrong or the NSA would not be bothering with this massive undertaking. Will China back down? Pride and "face" at stake here. A compromise? We shall see.

> Aren’t partnerships a two way street, though? What if the NSA comes knocking on Google’s door asking for help next time?

It already said so in their statement that the information sharing would be mutual, so what's your question?
This is about analyzing attack scenarios not about handing over user information.
But congratulations for stirring up some controversy for the paranoid anti-corporate hippies.

> This is about analyzing attack scenarios
> not about handing over user information.

*This* may be about analyzing attack scenarios. What I was pondering was *next* time the NSA comes asking. Specifically, if you agree it's a two-way street, then please tell us – what does the NSA gain from the partnership? What information that will help *them* will they receive from Google?

> It already said so in their statement

By the way there was no official statement...

For my tax dollars I prefer to have Google as the contractor. Think of a Government site before and after they integrate Google search... Its very common to look at Government sites that you know they spent millions or 100's of millions on that are just plan bad for everyone. I feel Google will bring a new level of professionalism to Government sites/research tools that is needed.

I'd much rather have my money used to buy working solutions, than spend millions/billions on non working solutions – i.e. FBI and others....

You American people don't get enough, eh?
Could you be more paranoic! No surprise. For years, Microsoft has pursued you, now you get worried about Google and the NSA.

Get used. Or, at least, stop complaining and do something.

Is there nothing but paranoid garbage coming out of this blog? Google couldn't buy a fruit cart without you saying it was all part of a big scheme to control us all. This *of course* would be supported by all the *great* evidence you have that they have always been planing the destruction of our privacy.

Unsubscribed. (using Google Reader of course) :P

Next, they'll serve up information that subliminally brain-wash you, per request from Uncle Sam. Anyone looking for the Devil to fight the "evil" Chinese is a moron!

I asked Google:

Q: Do you plan to work together with the NSA to analyze the Chinese attacks on your system? If so, in what ways specifically, and what does the NSA gain from the deal?

Their reply:

<<We're not going to comment beyond what we said in our original blog post. At the time, we said we are working with the relevant US authorities, but we don't have any comment beyond that. For reference: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html >>

The Chinese cyber attack was a false flag attack, just like the underwear bomber. Notice how there is a ready solution to all of these 'problems'. Airport naked scanners ready to go and Google and the NSA team up. Oh, but the NSA was already building huge data centers to track everybody's internet activity. How convenient for all of us.

Never end.

Self-fulfilling expectation. Those measurements for security made by NSA will eventually make us all includeing US citizens less safe.

Bruce Schneier: "The problem is that such control makes us all less safe. Whether the eavesdroppers are the good guys or the bad guys, these systems put us all at greater risk. Communications systems that have no inherent eavesdropping capabilities are more secure than systems with those capabilities built in. And it's bad civic hygiene to build technologies that could someday be used to facilitate a police state."

We have seen over and over, and we will see.

I'm loosing google as a search engine. I don't want to be tracked every move I make. It's bad enough the way it is.. Too much control by the government and using Google as a way to do it. I'm sadden by my government! GOD Bless the USA! And, I mean that!!!!

I agree, if there is a partnership between Google and the NSA, knowing our government as good as I do, the NSA will indeed be knocking on Googles door demanding a favor

Phillip, try googling what the NSA is and what their responsibilities are. You're talking about them like some for profit company. You might as well ask, "what does the police get in return for investigating a robbery?". Maybe in RUSSIA that would be a legitimate question...
If sharing information helps clarifying the origin and nature of an attack, and companies as well as the government can learn from that and harden their security accordingly, then thats a win win. To suggest that they will come back in a mafia fashion asking them to "return the favor" is ridiculous.

Geithner I think history – including recent history (including, but not limited to, recent US history) – has shown that indeed we might have good reason to not blindly trust our government's or our various government intelligence agencies.

> To suggest that they will come back in a mafia
> fashion asking them to "return the favor" is ridiculous.

Of course they will not come back in a mafia fashion, because the world is not black and white and this is not a movie. However, there may simply be a closer involvement between Google Inc and the NSA, which may include unrelated, future "projects" too. I'm not sure what it's called in English, but in Germany we call it to be on a "shorter [telephone] line" between two parties. Once relations are founded, these relations won't simply disappear into nothingness.