The level of outrage being directed at google over this seems to be far greater than that directed at facebook when they made a lot of their users' information public by default.
Facebook is a sandbox. People kind of understand that. I sign on to Facebook knowing that (a) I don't know for sure what it is; (b) its inventors aren't quite sure what it is, either; (c) we're going to find out by trial and error. Whereas I sign on to GMail because I want a personal email system, which despite all its flashy trappings retains the underlying semantics of email. If I wanted a social network, or another sandbox, I'd have signed up for one. And I'm not sure anyone wants a thing that impersonates a personal email system for a decade and then decides to become something else overnight without warning or clarity.
Which is why I tend to cite Beacon as their biggest failing.
This is the problem. They did ask for these things, just not clearly and explicitly. However, they did have these things in place, and people did use them. Just not everyone did.
So, what does he apologize for? A mistake that didn't happen or for mistakes that did happen? Granted, the popular opinion wants them to apologize for the perceived slight, but doing so would be admitting to something that in reality, didn't happen as popular opinion would suggest.
Either way, any apology would be bad. In this case, being honest is probably the best thing to do.
1) When your company motto is "Don't be evil" people tend to hold you to a higher standard.
2) Facebook was a place where you'd put stuff that at least some other people would see. Google, particularly search, is a place where some of the things you'd type you wouldn't want anyone to see.
Also: Facebook is for kids playing Farmville and posting drunk pictures. I don't care what happens on there since all they have on me at this point is pretty much my name. I use Google daily for a variety of tasks and my life would be severely diminished if I had to stop using Google, so I would rather not. However, their behavior makes me question some of their services, policies and views on who can look at what. I wouldn't say I'm outraged, but I am at least surprised at the lack of tact from Eric.