Perhaps it is just me, but when I read the article it appears that the issue they are trying to get across to people is the amount of data that google collects on people through the use of gmail, the never ending google cookie, and the desktop search tool. And I have to totally agree with the article. Google keeps tons of data on people, and if that information was available to criminals or three letter government agencies it could be a major invasion of what people in the US consider to be private information.

cnet news is not the only news agency that has done this type of article before...

It would seem that you are focusing on the first two paragraphs of the original cnet article and not even looking at the rest of the article. In all fairness to cnet it is a balanced article, and I don't see very much sensationalism or FUD. They talk about how much better of a job google does with this private information than what doubleclick did back a few years ago.