We seem to be blinkered on Google
What started as a good search engine, supported by advertising, has evolved into an advertising organisation that looks for ways to gather data to strengthen its marketing, one of which is its search engine. All my online devices (desktop, laptop, phone and tablet) default to a different search engine - currently DuckDuckGo, but there are others. Rather than try to rein in Google, perhaps what is needed is to ensure people are aware of alternatives. Just as a Hoover isn't the only vacuum cleaner around (and real "Hoovers" may now be a minority), so "Google" isn't the only search engine.
One major problem will be where schools are rushing to Chromebooks for their students. The fight against seeing MS Office as the default office software seems to be playing into Google's hands as Google Docs, and not OpenOffice (and variants) are winning. At least, that' the situation with schools in my region. Get the kids learning with your software and they'll look to use it thereafter (at least until they can be persuaded there might be a better alternative.
To be controversial, anyone who decides to default their browsing to Chrome shouldn't complain that their data is harvested or that their search results may be biased in favour of Googles profits.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
