Wired News published a nice article in two pages about Google Privacy :

“Google is perhaps the most noteworthy right now by the simple fact that they are the 800-pound gorilla,” said Lauren Weinstein, a veteran computer scientist and privacy advocate. “What they do tends to set a pattern and precedent.”

Google’s privacy statements specify that only some of its employees have access to personal data — on a need-to-know basis — and such access is logged to deter abuse.

Source Wired News