QUOTE(senioremporium @ Oct 27 2005, 03:59 PM)
Cool tool.. but why this is linked to the Maps thing?.. or am I mistaken...
QUOTE
Personal information collected by Google may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Google or its agents maintain facilities. By using the Service, You consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country.
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Hey Scooter,
From what I can tell, you are reading from Google's Privacy Policy, which is linked from all of their services - the search engine, adwords, adsense, Gmail, maps, desktop search, blogger, etc.. What they are basically saying - and some privacy watchdog groups are keeping a close suspicious eye on - is that no matter which of their services you are using, they are tracking what you are doing and aggregating it based off the browser cookies and in other methods. This information is collected in the United States and it's use/access/protection is governed by US laws.
That is just my interpretation. The reason/explanation that Google does this across the board is simply to gather data so they can improve the user experience.
There was a recent article I read where a US based search company - Yahoo, in this case - had operations in China. Users in China use Yahoo, of course, but they are not allowed the same free speech priviledges that are covered by the US. In one instance cited by the articles, at China's request, Yahoo helped the Chinese government track down a specific web site poster (blogger) who was posting things that China disapproved of.
Chinese Internet vs. free speech:: Hard choices for U.S. tech giantshttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNGDUEPNLA1.DTLQUOTE
Should international companies withdraw from the Chinese Internet market because of the government's restrictions on speech?
I'd guess this part of Google's policy might be to address this question before it is asked.