Google vs. Facebook

There has been much debate recently over the rivalry between Facebook and Google. Daniel Soar expresses concern that it is Google we should be worrying about, not Facebook, when it comes to the amount of data about us each company stores:

Facebook gets away with being evil – or does it? – because the personal information it makes available for targeting is information that users have voluntarily surrendered by filling in their profiles: birthday, relationship status, hometown, workplace; every time they click on a ‘Like’ button on the web they are deemed to have declared an interest that can be used for targeting. But another answer might be that the information Google has is too valuable to give away, that it has another reason for collecting every piece of data it possibly can, that the stuff it’s amassing is worth more than just money.

The idea of Facebook's 'voluntarily surrendered information' is key to understanding the distinction. Which is more creepy, you might ask: a company with information you give to it, or a company that sends cars up your street to take photographs of your house?