Working for Google was exciting. In Zurich I worked with extraordinary people, learned a lot and had quite some fun. But it was not an ideal match. It's like in relationships: If two people pair up and they don't make a good whole it's no ones fault: it is just not the ideal combination. Now I'm looking forward to the upcoming projects in our WMP GmbH in Munich.

Certainly not for the money.

Early in 2009 I started preparing my comprehensive non-technical lecture about security and privacy. After presenting it a few times I had the urge to do something more than just pointing out problems and asking everyone to be careful what they put online.

While researching the subject during 2009 I noticed that Google (infographic) is a major source of anxiety for many people as they seem to collect the biggest share of personal information on the net. According to the cover of the Spiegel, Google has entered the mainstream of opinion as the End of Privacy (german original).

There are some good counter-arguments on the net: World domination as a by-product (german original) and Google Bashing: The Political Economy of a search engine (german original).

Personally, while talking to Google employees I noticed that they work very hard to keep true to their motto: Don't be evil. I was astonished, not only by how much effort goes into keeping private data secure, but especially by how little about their efforts is publicized. Even though it’s not secret, few people know how very careful they are not to violate any user’s privacy. Google is aware of this gap in communication and wants to bridge it. Check out Google's approach to privacy as well as Celebrating Data Privacy Day and especially the talk by Dr. Alma Whitten, Google's engineering lead for privacy.

Meanwhile, I decided that instead of just talking about doing something, I should go ahead and offer my help to keep those systems secure that many people on the Internet rely on. This is why I accepted some major changes in my life to be able to start working for Google as a security engineer in Zurich. I’m looking forward to making sure that Google and its users have good reason to feel secure about their privacy.

After my prelimilary analysis many concerns that I have had about Google in the past have been unfounded, because there was no better information available to me at that time. For the future, I hope to use this website to help take care of unwarranted fears by clearing up misunderstandings, pointing out the real areas of concern and working on better solutions for privacy and security on the net and in everyday life.