If Microsoft giant Bill Gates is to be believed (I don’t think we have a reason not to believe him), Google reads each and every word of your email messages and gmail messages you send out to friends.

Is Google Violating Email Privacy Policy?

The information thus collected by Google is stored up in its huge databases, and helps it feel the pulse of the public across the world, following which they can target and sell Google ads more effectively.

This is being seen as a serious violation of email privacy policy by shocked netizens across the world.

Though this might come as a shock to you, this is a routine practice for most leading email service providers, and Google is not the only culprit. Yahoo has been doing it for ages too!

Almost 70% of the email service users across the world are blissfully unaware of the fact that each of their emails is being scanned for its content before they reach the person for whom they are actually meant. Such shocked users take it as a breach of gmail email privacy and an intrusion into their personal matters.

88% of the people find the practice shocking when they are told about it, and want to put an end to it immediately.

So much for ‘email privacy policy’!!

Google’s executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt, was unfazed in the face of such accusations and went on record to say, “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place”.

Leaving aside 10% of the Americans, who did not seem to mind to this practice, this bit of information has sent shock waves among people. They feel that no email provider should be allowed to have unauthorized access to their email messages.

Violation of email privacy policy is a serious matter for most people.

These claims by Microsoft are based on the findings of a study commissioned by the software giant. The study was conducted by GfK Roper study. Gmail email privacy has been under a scanner ever since.

After making public the reports of this study, Microsoft also informed that the email service launched by it last year, Outlook.com, looks down upon such practices and strictly safeguards the privacy of its users.

Microsoft also launched a petition to get the message across to Google that this practice of going through anyone’s emails is unacceptable and unethical.

The software giant is now encouraging more and more people to start using Outlook.com services, and also to login to Scroogled.com to sign the petition.

Whether such accusations will make a dent in the following of the world’s most loved and reliable email service is for time to tell.

Whether people are willing to ignore such accusations and ignore the breach of email privacy policy still remains to be seen.