Why would you ever host a blog with Google?

I don’t find stories like this suprising.  At all.

Our favorite local-blog-with-an-admitted-ax-to-grind, the Claremont Insider, digs into the city of Claremont’s website and strikes .pdf gold: “scanned-in bi-monthly pay stubs for all city employees going back several years.” The Insider writes up an amusing (and clearly fictional) account of how they obtained the stubs and posts the juice.

The city freaks out and starts muttering about “theft” and “investigation.” The Insider reveals that they found the information by simply using the city website’s search engine. Claremont’s city attorney contacts Google and asks for the post to be deleted.

Unbelievably, Google removes the post, telling the Insider that “we’ve received a complaint that your blog…contains confidential information…Accordingly, we have had to remove the content in question.”

Why would you host a blog with Google (or Typepad or Wordpress or any other 3rd party when you don’t control the domain?).  Especially if you’re going to be muckraking.