It seems the German government has some problems with Google Chrome, and they are suggesting that their citizens do not use it.

The Federal Office for Information Security in Germany is warning the citizens of the country that between Chrome, GMail, the Google search engine and so on, by using their browser you are putting too much data in one company’s hands.  Google Blogoscoped has a translation of a news report on the announcement.

The Federal Office for Information Security warned internet users of the new browser Chrome. The application by the company Google should not be used for surfing the internet, as a spokesperson for the office told the Berliner Zeitung. It was said to be problematic that Chrome was distributed as an unfinished advance version. Furthermore it was said to be risky that user data is hoarded with a single vendor. With its search engine, email program and the new browser, Google now covers all important areas on the internet.

While they do have some valid points about trusting all of your information to one company, they are being a little overzealous in saying that it was “problematic that Chrome was distributed as an unfinished advance version.” This is a common practice in software development and hence why the browser carries the label of being in “beta”.  One would have to ask what excuse Internet Explorer offers for all of its problems as it is coming up on its eigth iteration.

It is up to each individual how they choose to handle their online lives, but we do not see a real problem with this.  Is it any worse to trust everything to Microsoft?