Many of Google services allow users to take advantage of data collection. For example I once received a notification along the lines of "based on your location and traffic, you should leave at 3pm to catch your 5pm flight". I did nothing, I just received my flight ticket on my Gmail account, Google algorithms did the rest.
This is just one example. I find personalized search and suggestions rather good, and I regularly use location history to remember where I was on a particular date. This is of course a byproduct of data collection for monetization purposes, but I like the fact that you can get something useful out of it.
Also, Google does a rather good job of not leaking your personal data. I am not talking about state actors level threats, but unlike with Facebook, it doesn't have a tendency to show pictures of you getting drunk to your boss.
Google's "plane ticket in the inbox" logic is extremely handy, but it's also not very clever. If a family member forwards me their itinerary so I can pick them up from the airport, for example, Google will still remind me that I have to depart soon, even though I'm just at home.
the problem is when governments ask google access to data which otherwise they could not obtain. in this recent case, the idea was to access gmail or google drive because that contains "unencrypted" whatsapp backs. so all the e2e and a thir party managed to be the achilees heel.
This is just one example. I find personalized search and suggestions rather good, and I regularly use location history to remember where I was on a particular date. This is of course a byproduct of data collection for monetization purposes, but I like the fact that you can get something useful out of it.
Also, Google does a rather good job of not leaking your personal data. I am not talking about state actors level threats, but unlike with Facebook, it doesn't have a tendency to show pictures of you getting drunk to your boss.