Wow…
So, today we’re making a homepage change by adding a link to our privacy overview and policies.
How does privacy relate to homepage word count? Larry and Sergey told me we could only add this to the homepage if we took a word away – keeping the “weight” of the homepage unchanged at 28. Given that the new Privacy link fit best with legal disclaimers on the page, I looked to the copyright line. There, we dropped the word “Google” (realizing it was implied, obviously) and added the new privacy link alongside it.
It just demonstrates the level of arrogance within the ‘Googleplex’ – never mind “hey guys we ought to comply with this important piece of consumer protection legislation”…
I think you mis-understood. The point of this is Google’s obsession with simplicity. The made a decision to measure that simplicity with a single stat – word count.