ThatAdamGuy - 7:14 am on Apr 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

I already (respectfully) gave this lawmaker a piece of my mind via email. I hope she'll do her homework (which she should have, but apparently did not do, already). Call me a Google patsy, if you wish, but even though I don't plan on having Gmail be my primary mail system, I am excited about using it as a backup for my mail, a search tool, and also a way check my messages while traveling. I am very concerned about grandstanding lawmakers and (possibly) sincere but misguided privacy-focused organizations causing the delay or even cancellation of Google's groundbreaking service.

That's what it all comes down to: will Y and MSN do the same? "content ads" in emails might be just the beginning, once people are getting used to it they might accept even more.

You overlook the fact that many of us either like the ads or are indifferent to them. Personally, in my testing of Gmail so far, I don't even notice them... and that surprises me!

Several european countries prohibit to mix private communications with advertisements because they consider it as unethical - some here also called it evil.

Have they yet forbidden name brand clothing? I know when I was living in Europe, I saw (ad) logos on clothing, even when having private conversations with people! When I was at a restaurant having an intimate dinner, I saw ads on coasters, ads on matchbook covers, and so on. If the presence of ads bothers you (and, I concede, I think in some ways this world'd be more peaceful with less commercialism), then don't get Gmail. It's not for you, and that's okay! :)

But evil? Oh my goodness. I must say, I'm personally concerned when people start equating advertising issues with "evil." Murderous tyrants are evil. Hit and run drivers, quite possibly evil. Underfunding schools, definitely evil. But putting ads next to email? Please, I beg of you, despite understandable concerns, let's keep all of this in perspective in the context of our complex world.

I am really surprised that so many members of WebmasterWorld like the idea of breaking this barrier, there is simply no need for it (besides the need for google to use internet users as a tool to make additional revenue)

There's no "need" for a lot of stuff. No need for these forums, no need for even email at all, really. Why not send over the correspondence by horse and carriage? (floatable horse and carriage for transatlantic communications)

the average user already sees far to many ads - if you wanna get a lot of storage for your email get a bigger drive, 1G costs like $1 to $2 and you don't have to sell your soul.

A bigger drive doesn't allow me to access my mail from anywhere. A bigger drive doesn't let me scan through tens of thousands of emails with amazing speed. And a bigger drive certainly doesn't automatically include redundant backups in case of hard drive failure, flood or fire, etc.