Microsoft goes after Google with attack on Gmail privacy


Microsoft goes after Google with attack on Gmail privacy

Campaign titled "Don't get scroogled by Gmail" encourages users of Google's free e-mail service to dump it for Microsoft's Outlook.com.

Outlook.com launched Don’t Get Scroogled by Gmail, a national campaign at [scroogled.com...] to educate Americans about Google’s practice of going through the contents of all Gmail emails to sell and target ads. According to a public GfK Roper study, commissioned by Microsoft Corp., 70 percent of consumers don’t know that major email providers routinely engage in the practice of reading through their personal email to sell ads — something that 88 percent of people disapprove of once they are informed. Unlike Gmail, Outlook.com doesn’t go through the content of users’ emails to show ads. Outlook.com hopes this campaign will help educate consumers about Google’s email practices and promote Outlook.com’s policy of prioritizing the privacy of its users’ emails. 

To help consumers have their voice heard, today Outlook.com launched a petition to help them get the message to Google that going through personal email messages to sell ads is unacceptable. Outlook.com encourages consumers to sign the petition at Scroogled.com and tell Google to stop going through their emails to sell ads. Outlook.com encourages consumers to prioritize their privacy by switching to Outlook.com.Microsoft Takes a Swing at Google's Gmail Advertising [microsoft.com]