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It's not just the tracking that's bad, it's all the problems that come with having an extra middle man and not being able to see what you are clicking. Certainly Google doesn't protect everyone from all malware that shows up in search results, there's no reason to think they can here (I think they do a good job considering, but malware is still hugely pervasive). It also breaks the move to a more semantic web. Just look at Slashdot's URL for this story and you can see what the story is about, what category it's in and when it was posted.

interesting blog post i read a few months back about some of the pitfalls

In my opinion URL shortening is bad for the web, and bad for usability. It's also something pretty easily created by any website on their own if they really need it.

http://joshua.schachter.org/2009/04/on-url-shorteners.html

And if that URL is too long, try: http://bit.ly/diVyDc

Url shorteners are an unnecessary security risk and also creates single points of failure for long term Internet stability. We should try to avoid them and instead encourage popular sites to provide their own shortened links. For more, here's a noteworthy blog post on the subject: http://joshua.schachter.org/2009/04/on-url-shorteners.html

...why?

Really, I have no idea what the point is. Here's a TFA URL:

http://joshua.schachter.org/2009/04/on-url-shorteners.html

Here's what yours might look like:

http://joshua.schachter.org/89dfaf0834055017af95b8cbb8b440819c3db49a

Congratulations, it's longer. What's the gain?

...why?

Really, I have no idea what the point is. Here's a TFA URL:

http://joshua.schachter.org/2009/04/on-url-shorteners.html

Here's what yours might look like:

http://joshua.schachter.org/89dfaf0834055017af95b8cbb8b440819c3db49a

Congratulations, it's longer. What's the gain?