"Google said the data would be retained for 18 months."
And it will. It will be retained for eighteen months. Then, it will be retained for another six months. Then, it will be retained until the end of time. They never said it would be deleted after eighteen months.
Come on, Google. If you want to do the misleading statement thing, you'll have to do better than that. Your spokesperson undoubtedly has a degree in PR, and I'm a software dev. Until they can come up with a statement I couldn't have, they're not even trying hard. I know you don't think you have to but...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
