14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re a Microsoft fanboy, chances are that you’ve already heard of the company’s Scroogled campaign which claims that Google violates users’ privacy in a number of ways.
One of the software maker’s campaign is aimed at Gmail, Google’s famous email service that’s reportedly scanning inbox content to display ads.
Microsoft believes that Google looks into every single email, just to continue its ad assault, so it encourages users to make the switch to its recently refreshed Outlook.com platform.
Similar claims are behind a new lawsuit filed at a federal court in San Jose, with the plaintiffs arguing that Google violates privacy by scanning email content to display ads.
"This company reads, on a daily basis, every email that's submitted, and when I say read, I mean looking at every word to determine meaning," said Texas attorney Sean Rommel, one of those accusing Google of privacy breaching, according to The Herald Sun.
According to court papers, plaintiffs say that Google "unlawfully opens up, reads, and acquires the content of people's private email messages," while also scanning any of the messages sent to Gmail users.
"The injury is two-fold: the privacy invasion and the loss of property. Google is taking people's property because they can get it for free as opposed to paying for it," Rommel said.
Google, on the other hand, claims that no human is reading the emails and the whole process is automated.
"Users, while they're using their Google Gmail account, have given Google the ability to use the emails they send and receive for providing that service," Google attorney Whitty Somvichian was quoted as saying. "They have not assumed the risk that Google will disclose their information and they fully retain the right to delete their emails."
Microsoft hasn’t yet commented on this new lawsuit, but we should obviously wait for an update to the Scroogled campaign anytime soon.
While Microsoft’s Scroogled was specifically designed to reveal the unfair practices used by Google in some of its services, the tech giant has also rolled out a petition to call for Google to stop going through emails to sell ads.
“Your email is nobody else’s business. But Google makes it their business. Even if you’re not a Gmail user, Google still goes through your personal email sent to Gmail and uses the content to sell ads. Google goes through every Gmail that's sent or received, looking for keywords so they can target Gmail users with paid ads. And there's no way to opt out of this invasion of your privacy,” Microsoft said.