[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Snakeforhire:
Erm, yeah, that is, if no other part of the VPN framework is sending the encryption key to Google servers -in an encrypted form so as to not be so easily detectable by sniffing the traffic... :P

Heck, the FBI and the NSA do it with e-mail (google-search "carnivore program" and "Echelon communications interception", you'll find plenty of info on these -surprisingly not well known- topics) and truckloads of other communication forms, why would Google mind ?

You're absolutely right to be wary -especially if you live in the USA, where the "Patriot Acts" 1 and 2 give practically free-hands to the government to wiretap everything they want, in the interest of "national security" (or so they say. Most times though, it's used for more 'impure' intentions), and sometimes forward the collected info to big corporations who can make big money out of it. That's how Boeing practically stole a multibillion $ contract right under the nose of Airbus : the NSA tipped them off after they intercepted emails and faxes emitted by Airbus about the bid, and told Boeing to slightly -just enough- increase their own bid, and voilà... ;) (but they never acknowledge anything by saying "we intercepted comms that said they'll bid so much or so much", nope, it's way more sneaky than this : it goes like "about this contract, we think that it would be a good idea to slightly increase your bid, by say a million or two", never mentioning any wiretapping -and of course the people who benefit from the info are way too glad to think about spoiling the ambiance by asking embarassing questions. "you don't look a gift horse in the mouth", after all... :D

If you really wanna have a (mostly) relaxed mindset about this, I see only one reliable solution : code your very own VPN app, and keep it to yourself, forever and ever, so it can't be reverse-engineered by no one (and even this is no 100% guarantee, you're never safe from anything in this sorry world).. :D

That being said, I'm not entirely convinced Google created Android just for gathering info from its sheepish users.. There probably is some of that, sure -althoug, to be a Android user requires way more technical knowledge and curiosity about the device you're using (that is, if you wanna use it at 100% of its capabilities) than the "average frustrated Windows chump".. And this kind of user is way more liable to uncover the "conspiracy", sooner and easier than just a WinMo or iOS user.. It's kind of like sawing the branch you're sitting on.. ;)

And if this happened -Google being discovered spying upon the communications of Android users- they'd probably be in biiiig trouble, probably more than what makes it worth trying it. Just look at Apple when it got known that every iPhone has a hidden memory area that stores the GPS coordinates of your every move and periodically uploads them to Apple servers. Jobs managed to dodge the bullet by publicly explaining that it was meant to enhance the algorithms that will be used by future GPS chips, but who the hell believes that ? For one thing, Apple never manufactured GPS chips, and probably never will, mostly because building a chip-foundry factory costs a huge wad of dough (just ask Intel how much they're spending to upgrade their infrastructures each time they reduce the die-sizes by a few nanometers, the amounts are hard to believe when you're making about 15$ an hour like me..), and also because there are already too many competitors out there -most of which are better than Apple at designing quality hardware.. It's probably no mystery if Apple prefers using 3rd-party hardware than making their own : it's cheaper, easier, and at least if you get some f-ed up hardware, you can just blame it on the corporation who sold it to you instead of having to make an embarassing and very public mea-culpa (at this point, the words "HTC", "eMMC" and "Samsung-made chips" are popping into my mind.. Is anyone else feeling those symptoms ? ^^). ;) And it would be way harder -if not downright impossible- for Google to find a believable and reasonable explanation for such a mischief (I think it's even called a felony at this level.. But I'm no yankee, can't be 100% sure about this detail -and right now I'm too lazy to Google it up and find out.. xD).

But then again, who can be 100% sure ? It's always wise to be wary, and always be prepared for every contingency, as far as is humanly possible :)

I personally think that if Google created Android it's probably more because they wanted to thwart Microsoft from ever gaining complete monopoly of the mobile OS market, like they did with Windows and the PC OS market -which they mercilessly dominate by every means possible, even those that are borderline illegal sometimes, if the outcome makes it very worth the risk..

Google and Microsoft just can't stand each other (just like Microsoft and SCO-Unix couldn't stand each other back in the heroic days.. Actually, Microsoft has had many a foe along the way, IBM is counting among those too -but MS finally managed to kill off their offspring OS/2. It wouldn't die by itself so they had to kill it.. But they only managed to do so because they were more determined on taking it out of the OS scene than IBM was determined on defending it.. :D), and they just will do anything that is in their respective grasp to piss off one another -with varying success..

And I gotta admit that they did a pretty good job out of it, all things considered : the Unix open-source community benefits from one more interesting project (even if the sources for every new Android release are often very long to come out. But then, the GNU public licence only states that you have to release the source code with your app if you're reusing some GNU-licensed code, it never mentions any deadlines, or that it has to be released together with the compiled binary), and Microsoft is held back from completely winning a juicy prize, which makes their new CEO Steve Ballmer mad with rage -which is hilariously funny to me (I can't get enough of seeing this fatass enraged. Too bad Bill Gates retired, it'd probably have been equally as funny -if not more- to see him enraged, with Ballmer towering over him by his side and trying to make himself as small as a mouse so he could escape by a crack in the nearest wall, the "angry dwarf and the 'not-too-bright-but-very-bulky' giant". In the movies that's always a winning combo).. :D