Microsoft attacks Google for snooping - with ridiculous campaign

http://www.scroogled.com/

I really don't like the idea of giving them any more traffic, but it's just too funny to not link to.

The picture of the woman doing the "mea culpa" pose over the man makes me think she just knocked him down--and told him to stay down. He looks surprised. Really weird graphic.

 

Eyes superimposed over the email

This is a total red-herring.

Firstly, Google does not have people actively reading your email to give you ads.

Secondly, is your email really that private that you would be bothered by someone reading it? Everyone should already know that you do not send personal info through your email. I know most are guilty, but seriously guys, no passwords, no credit card numbers, no comments about the diseases you have. E-Mail is not private.

In fact, I would tell people to always imagine creepy eyes above their screen because it will give them pause to think about 1) "should I be sending this info via insecure email", and 2) "maybe I should cool down before I send it".

I think that most people are willing to have their email scanned in exchange for the service that Google offers. I know I am, GMail is pretty awesome.

Is this really worse than the way Hotmail (now Windows Live Mail, or Outlook.com, I can't remember) used to insert ads under the sig in any email sent from Hotmail. That was pretty sleazy and made your @hotmail.com address look even less professional than it already did.

Somehow you are being screwed

I'm not being screwed by Google. Maybe I'm being inconvenienced with ads...but again, a small price to pay. Let's not forget that Google offers GMail, YouTube, and even Blogger, free of direct fees.

Link to Google's own video

In the Microsoft campaign they include a video snippet from Google, where Google talks about this 'feature'.

Microsoft is trying to pitch this as a negative, but honestly, it puts Google in a pretty good light; in the video the CEO is actually citing how Google aims to not intrude so much so as to be creepy. It's actually reassuring that Google is thinking about where the line of creepy is.