"I think the fact that Google News to this day has no advertisement, or the fact that Google in the first two years of its existence did not have ads, clearly shows their focus."

Point taken. But chances are, Google News doesn't show ads so that when Google News faces its day in court it has a better shot at being fair use.

"Lobby US politicians to make it illegal for other IT companies to sacrifice US laws in China, thus raising the pressure on the Chinese government who also relies on US technology" – an excellent point, given there are already laws prohibiting bribery overseas to win contracts.

Excellent article!

I hope that Larry and Sergie don't come kick my ass for what I said.

A very reasoned response to my post. Have you talked to Google about their Chief Blogging Office (CBO) position.

I still have reservations about Google's intentions. You are right that they really consider the user when designing their advertising systems and products. However, this has always been the goal of great marketers and advertisers. They want to seamlessly integrate advertising into your life. It's not supposed to be flashy or annoying. It's just supposed to get stuck in your head.

Anyway, I love Google tools too. I'm not going to stop using them just because of my reservations.

One of the key questions that Google seems to ask is "How can we maintain user trust?".

Regardless of whether their intentions are info- or ad-related, Google has been careful not to completely alienate or commoditize their users. Like Adam says "...this has always been the goal of great marketers and advertisers. They want to seamlessly integrate advertising into your life." – and Google has done that without being too creepy to all but the most cutting-edge netizens.