• The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, August 10, 2010 12:28 PM

The Wall Street Journal has obtained a "confidential," seven-page Google "vision statement," which agonized over the issue of online privacy, and what liberties it should take with the vast amount of personal and behavioral data it collects from consumers. Compiled in late 2008 by Aitan Weinberg -- now a senior product manager for interest-based advertising -- it "shows the information-age giant in a deep round of soul-searching over a basic question: How far should it go in profiting from its crown jewels--the vast trove of data it possesses about people's activities?" according to The Journal.

Specific questions include: "Should it tap more of what it knows about Gmail users? Should it build a vast 'trading platform' for buying and selling Web data? Should it let people pay to not see any ads at all? A person familiar with the matter describes the vision statement as a mere "brainstorming document," and said it wasn't presented to senior executives. Still, according to The Journal, several ideas outlined in the document have since been implemented. Last year, for example, Google for the first time started collecting a new type of data about the Web sites people visit, and using it to track and show them ads across the Internet, The Journal reports.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »