I trust Google, but not the US government (or the UK govt for that matter) to not order them to turn over data, or take it anyway, and because of this I have moved most of my data, everything important, to my own server outside the US.
As far as Google themselves go, I realise they are driven by profit and use my data "against" me in advertising, but in return for that, I get reliable services that add a lot of value to things like email (i.e. Google Now). As far as I'm concerned, this is a totally fair trade-off, and one I'm happy to make.
It was not 100% impossible for Google to not turn over the data, there would have been ways. It's not about if Google is evil or not it's about how evil it is.
It wasn't impossible to not cooperate, but from what I've heard they (and Apple and Microsoft) really tried hard not to comply, and pretty much ran out of things to try. Unfortunately as it was all secret, they didn't have public support, and the amount they could fight it in court was limited.
I find "trust" a bizarre word to use in the context of corporations. I have faith that Google are rational enough to not dance with death (e.g. having a trove of dirty secrets that could be leaked) but I would never say I trust Google. Game theory is much more interesting than the silly notion of "trust".
I trust Google, but not the US government (or the UK govt for that matter) to not order them to turn over data, or take it anyway, and because of this I have moved most of my data, everything important, to my own server outside the US.
As far as Google themselves go, I realise they are driven by profit and use my data "against" me in advertising, but in return for that, I get reliable services that add a lot of value to things like email (i.e. Google Now). As far as I'm concerned, this is a totally fair trade-off, and one I'm happy to make.