Of google mail and evil

A new email service, being launched by Google, had me convinced that it was an april fools day joke, even though a patent application has been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Why should I get one of Google's "free" email addresses? Why should I let them scan, record, and index my private correspondence?

Here's a quote from the Press Release

The inspiration for Gmail came from a Google user complaining about the poor quality of existing email services, recalled Larry Page, Google co-founder and president, Products. "She kvetched about spending all her time filing messages or trying to find them," Page said. "And when she's not doing that, she has to delete email like crazy to stay under the obligatory four megabyte limit. So she asked, 'Can't you people fix this?'"

I'm sorry, but that doesn't sound like a statement that the President of a large company should make. Kvetched?

Google. I don't care about whether or not I'm able to keep most of my email. I don't want most of my email. Figure out a way to reduce the amount of spam I get in correspondence, not a way to increase it by including ads in legitimate mail.