I didn't say that Yahoo and Microsoft were any better than Google. I wouldn't trust any of them with my data.

Google would have a very good argument against handing over data.

Google might have very good reasons to not want to hand over data, but under the PATRIOT act Google doesn't have the option of saying "sorry, we don't feel like giving you that data".

The only time Google has handed data over to a government agency...

I think you mean "the only time we know about...". Under the PATRIOT act it's entirely possible that Google has handed over lots of data to the US government but has been instructed that they're not allowed to tell anyone about it.

*Sound of fog horn*

I agree, that's the most irritating call I've ever gotten. I normally hang up on telemarketers, but now I make a point of trying to keep that one on the line as long as possible.

The Webster dictionary is opinionated and attempts to dictate usage rather than describe it.

Many authors have used "Firstly" quite deliberately in analogy with "Secondly" and "Thirdly" -- to suggest that their usage was improper is akin to finding fault in the punctuation of E.E. Cummings; deliberate flaunting of common usage is not wrong in the way that an accidental error is.

Firstly is a real word; and according to the Oxford English Dictionary, has been in use ever since 1532. Quotations include "Walke thou fyrstly, walke thou lastly; Walke in the walke that standeth fastly" (1562), "A most delightful [ballad]... which has been laid firstly to Pope and secondly to me" (1723), and "These objects are twofold: firstly, to promote [etc.]" (1857).

Of course, in 1847 the word 'firstly' was accused of being a "ridiculous and most pedantic neologism" (falsely -- being over 300 years old, it was hardly a neologism), and I'll freely admit that it isn't a very *nice* word; but it's a word whether we like it or not.

When my local phone company was having a labour dispute, they blocked the union website.

That is true, but leaves out some rather important details -- like the fact that the blocked website contained photos, addresses, and phone numbers of company managers and of workers who decided to cross the picket lines, and encouraged harassment of said individuals; and that threats of violence had been made against those managers and workers.

I'm not saying that Telus was right in blocking the website, but this wasn't merely a labour dispute.