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That's what happens when our legal system makes every byte discoverable. All it takes is for one Googler to send an IM to another that says, "I'm not sure the sale complied with [regulation xyz]" and then, even if the two of them had nothing to do with the deal, and don't even really understand law all that well, the archive of that chat can get dragged out in court as evidence of .. god knows what.

Google has OTR on for company IMs. This came out in a court case where IMs were requested as part of discovery.

Google also has numerous avenues for having digital discussions that are not OTR. IM was just an example, obviously.

Legal issues can get complicated. It's normal for a big company.

When some says the word "speculate" (with respect to conversation, not financial investing) they are refering to armchair lawyering that gets people in trouble.

It's what happens when you go public.