No matter how hard it tries, it seems Google can't

No matter how hard it tries, it seems Google can't help frightening people. Even its famous "Don't be evil" policy might scare someone who believes the company's power or its profits are somehow nefarious.

It may be Google's business model, rather than anything about the company itself, that gives the public the willies. Google is the undisputed champion at what the MBAs call "monetizing content:" selling advertising to accompany pictures or words. But the content Google monetizes is not, for the most part, its own; it is the stuff other people create and put on the internet. This is not news to anyone, nor is it unique to Google. Yet Google's scale and scope when combined with its way of making money, which can feel like the exploitation of someone else's efforts, don't engender a lot of trust, regardless of the purity of the company's motives.

A lot of people worked themselves into a lather over new privacy rules that Google rolled out at the beginning of this month. The new policy collapsed all Google services into one, overarching privacy statement. (Google Books, Chrome and Wallet, while consistent with this policy, will maintain additional, separate policies, linked at the bottom of the webpage.) Grouping its products together will offer a more seamless and useful experience for users, according to Google. It will also mean more effective targeting for advertisers.

Some find it unnerving that Google will now group a user's search history with his YouTube viewing habits, or connect her interests on Google + to the material she looks at on Google Maps. Responses in the days before the changeover ranged from the reasonable to the slightly panicked.

The widespread jumpiness seems somewhat contrary, considering that many of the people complaining freely share their comments, activities, interests and photos with a broad circle of friends and acquaintances via social networking.

Google tried