>No, here's what Google is probably doing.
>
>- You log into your Gmail account. They've already scanned emails sent to you, looking for keywords. They log the IP address you signed in from.
>- You write an email. They scan it for keywords.
>- You then do a search. They track what you are searching for.
>- You jump over to YouTube. They track that
>- You go to Blogger.com to read some blogs. Oh yes, another Google property. They track that.
>- You go to CNN.com for the news. Ads are served to you, and doubleclick (the largest click tracking company, also owned by Google), keeps track of what you click on.

Yes, except the last - I've probably never visited CNN, I deeply mistrust them since the nineties. But there's my blog (on blogger, yes) and account on Panoramio - both Google property, and both places where I signed in before Google bought them.

>Google now has your email address tied to your ip address...and knows EXACTLY what YOU have been looking at and clicking on and has scanned all your email looking for keywords.

And yet they still want me to voluntarily bind my Panoramio and Youtube accounts to my Google account, plus my cell phone number.

>Microsoft does not tie your email address to your ip address along with your web searches. Microsoft does not scan your emails. Big difference here.

Well they can't, as I never had a computer where email would go through anything Microsoft :). But see message #1570280 and that subthread in general - Microsoft simply uses other sources of information. They don't sell ad space as much, but they sell software. They probably want to know what's installed base of whatever is out there, so they know which software company to buy next.

Again, Google being worse than Microsoft doesn't mean Microsoft is that much better.