SAN FRANCISCO (AP).- Google thought it was doing a good deed last month when it opened an annual art contest to more kids across the United States.

The gesture instead has turned into another opportunity for Google Inc.'s critics to question whether the Internet search leader is overstepping privacy boundaries by seeking too much information from its users.

In this case, Google initially asked parents to provide the final four digits of their children's Social Security numbers along with their dates and cities of birth during the first month of its fourth annual "Doodle 4 Google."

Google dropped the request for the partial Social Security numbers last week.

But Google's about-face evidently didn't stop a spate of blog postings this week wondering if Google had violated its "don't be evil" motto.


Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.