I love this: the goo.gl url shortener is now open to everyone ! I know the folks that worked on this, so let me answer a few quick questions. Q: Why are you doing this? A: Google needed a url shortener for its own products where we knew the shortener wouldn't go away. We also wanted a shortener that we knew would do things the right way (e.g. 301/permanent redirects), and that would be fast, stable, and secure. Q: Why open it up to the public?