Google doesn't understand modern privacy

"Eric Schmidt has an answer there as well, 'Google does not discover things that are not public. Many people are disturbed to find their home phone number. But we found it because it was a public piece of information,' he says. "

This is wrong. Public information pre-Internet is very different from public information today. Having your phone number published in a big white book, collecting dust in the bottom of a closet is different than having it instantly accessible anytime, anywhere by anyone. People cared less about private data as public record when access was difficult. Therefore they made different distinctions and allowances. We can't apply the pre-Google public record standards to a networked world.