You are not author of your own content until you have a Google Profile (Google+)

Nothing wrong with Google nudging people to make profiles so when they show up in search results the results look friendlier with a picture and possibly bio information.

Google is a business and they make money from search adds, a little money from charging for storage, Google Apps, AppEngine revenues, etc. They need to be profitable to keep the lights on. I make the same comment for all "free" web assets that we use - something has to motivate people and organizations to produce content, curate data and information, serve as a platform, etc.