Mr Page said the less data companies like Google were able to hold the “more likely we all are to die”.

What?! Here’s Larry Page suggesting that it was Google who first spotted the swine flu epidemic in Mexico. Is this even remotely true? Well, here’s what they say. So, search terms can be used to highlight trends. OK, I’ll buy that. But what about the massive spikes whenever there is a media frenzy about anything? Or does this only work for the flu? And besides, what good would it do to have flu data more than six months old?

Google is a brilliant company and I’m sure they are thinking about these things. But I call bullshit. In fact, I only wanted to write something about this because I found it so laughable. That is, I actually laughed when I read it. I’m still laughing. Make it stop Google.

I think they should be able to keep data around for a reasonable amount of time. There are lots of useful things that could be done with it. But, damn it, Google has no incentive to serve humanity with its data mining. They do have a profit motive however. Google saves the world vs. Google makes a shitload of money. Only one of these hasn’t happened yet.