Google- What's the deal?

We have been talking a lot in class about just how pervasive Google is, from logging all our personal information to infiltrating every form of media the web has to offer. The fact is that Google has become the most recognizable website in the world today, as "Facebooking" someone isn't as common as "Googling" something. While they technically can't be considered a monopoly on the web, they really are as close as they can get. The big question, though, is where will it end?

One of the best arguments for Google is that they claim to collect information for "our convenience." It remembers searches we have made, Google Chrome (like most other browsers) remembers our login information for sites we frequent, and even has all our billing information memorized. While some people are okay with having all that free information  saved in our history (like I said, it makes everything faster), I simply have that turned off. Or, at least, as much as possible. I am of those people that still types in their user name and password for the websites I log in to. I just feel more secure that way, even if in the grand scheme of things, some random stranger knowing my Photobucket account info really doesn't affect me one way or the other.

The other really troubling thing people have considered is what Google will do once they do feel they have enough of our personal information. Some have speculated that they will sell all our personal information, all willingly supplied by us to them, to third parties looking to bombard us with advertisements they think we may be interested in. Or, even worse, they can sell our credit card info, once again supplied by us and saved in the system, to others that can exploit that information. They may even do it themselves.

While I'm not saying Google is a terrible, terrible company, I do believe they should probably have an eye kept on them. There is no problem with collecting information about your customers, as it helps a business cater to them. I even understand that a company 's fundamental purpose is to make money, so if they can profit off of using some of our information without harming us in any significant way, I am cool with that too. I just think that there is such a thing as one entity knowing too much about everyone, and we should all be a little bit more wary about how much of ourselves we give away. We have no idea where it will end up in the end.