The BBC isn't the only large media organisation whose efforts in the name of openness are being questioned (BBC top salaries and expenses disclosure, 'There's a long way to go' - in The Times, for instance).
Google Dashboard was launched last week, with media coverage highlighting Google's own message that the new feature allows a user signed into a Google account to access "a simple view into the data associated with your account - easily and concisely in one location". Would this satisfy privacy advocates who worry about 'what Google knows' about its users?
Not really, according to reactions collected by BBC Monitoring:
"Writing for US technology website PC World on 5 November, information security expert Tony Bradley said that Google Dashboard creates potential new dangers for Google users.
'Any technology or service that makes life easier and more convenient for you also makes it easier and more convenient for attackers.
'Google delivers all of the juicy details it has about you in one-stop-shopping resources like the Google Dashboard which also provides a juicy one-stop-shopping target for attackers. A compromised Google account can yield a jackpot of sensitive information,' Bradley wrote.
According to Ben Rothke, security consultant with BT Professional Services, 'Google Dashboard is akin to putting all of one's eggs in a single basket.
'The problem is that the average end-user is clueless on how to guard that digital basket. So once that Google account is breached or hacked, the victim has their entire Google experience compromised,' Rothke told the PC World website."
Dashboard allows users to delete individual items, just like clearing history from a browser. Google's own video explaining Dashboard - below - says that "you have options to delete your data", which sounds clear enough.
But does deleting on Dashboard only delete from Dashboard, or from Google's records? If, as I suspect, it is only the former, then the process creates a new resource for privacy attackers: imagine if they could somehow access all the information people have 'deleted' from their accounts. It would save blackmailers an awful lot of trawling.
As one comment about this video on YouTube puts it: "Extraordinary! Now, if only Google would actually delete my messages from their servers when I press delete, that would be even better."
