That's assuming the government or certain agencies like NSA wouldn't already try to get Google to abuse that power in their favor, and be a very willing partner for them.
But the thing is Google has been one of the companies that has actively fought the hardest against such government abuses.
Others on the other hand are more than willing to do it. How long did it take Microsoft to brag to the Chinese authorities that they are on the Chinese government's side, just so they can gain 1% market share if Google was banned from China? A whole week? What about the partnership to create the surveillance tool that is TOM-Skype?
So yes, I think we could do much, much worse than Google.
So Microsoft is opportunistic. Big deal. Google was equally quite happy to "brag to the Chinese authorities that they are on the Chinese government's side" as well in the past. They just maybe didn't understand the implications of what they meant.
Yes. We could do much, much worse than Google. We could also do much, much better. But the fact is that every company is complying with the basic tenants of the law and that is all that anyone can expect of them really.
But the thing is Google has been one of the companies that has actively fought the hardest against such government abuses.
Others on the other hand are more than willing to do it. How long did it take Microsoft to brag to the Chinese authorities that they are on the Chinese government's side, just so they can gain 1% market share if Google was banned from China? A whole week? What about the partnership to create the surveillance tool that is TOM-Skype?
So yes, I think we could do much, much worse than Google.