Yu Chen has posted at the official Google blog about a new feature for Google’s personalized search. Google Search Trends, allows you to see how you search and what you have clicked on in the past as well as other little tid bits about yourself that you did not really think that Google, or anyone else, was collecting. I think this can be a helpful tool, but at the same time it kind of scares me a bit. On the one hand, this is a great way for you to be able to quickly remember or re-create a search query you did in the past, but have not been able to replicate. I know that I have been unable to re-create queries in the past and have been unable to find some sites that I failed to make not of. On the other hand, this reminds me that Google is really no different from any other media or information company. Think about the vast amounts of information companies like TRW have about consumers. They are able to take multiple lists and aggregate the data in a way that allows them to know just about anything about anyone in the country. What products you buy, from what stores, when, how much you spend, how much of a balance you have on your credit cards, your phone number, address, how many houses you own, the list goes on and on.

Google’s products and acquisitions recently have made me think more and more about how much information they have access to. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I am not really sure what the benefit to consumers is when it comes to Google having all of the information about people who surf on their “network” (this would include any site that has Adsense running on it). Anyway, Google Trends is out, so check it out if you like.