Let's start with the privacy angle. Google puts a "people" icon next to account information that's available to anyone Googling -- er, searching the Net. That's useful info. But if you want to make that stuff private -- or just find out if it's even possible to make it private -- you have to go deep into the settings of each Google app. If you don't already know where to go to change this setting, you may not get there.

For example, I have seven Google Calendars (yes, I am freakish in that way). Google's Dashboard told me one of them was public, but didn't identify which one. A -- like the names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of people you're meeting with, or when you'll be out of town for an extended period. It's one-stop shopping for identity thieves and/or .

I had to go through my calendar settings one by one until I identified the culprit (which, fortunately, was one I never use for personal info). Had Google really wanted to enhance "transparency, choice, and control" they would have made this a one-click operation.

Similarly, for people who were appalled to discover just how deeply Google was embedded in their lives -- quite a few of them, judging from the blog chatter -- there's no easy way to simply unsubscribe from these services. I have an Orkut profile I set up once for research purposes and never used again. How do I get rid of it? I still can't figure that one out.

Or, once I finally do figure out how to kill one of my Google accounts, what happens to the information associated with it? Does Google keep it? And if so, for how long?