Google needs to come clean about privacy and scanning email from other ISPs.

Google is dropping the ball with Gmail -- but not in the way you might think they are.

The company introduced Gmail, its new free email service, to a chorus of negative press from legislators and consumer watchdog groups who claim that it invades consumers' privacy. The idea behind Gmail, if you haven't heard already, is that consumers get free email with 1GB of storage in exchange for allowing Google to scan their email messages and serve contextual ads.

At great risk of sounding like too many other critics of Google, I understand how Gmail can seem a bit creepy at first glance. For example, if I sign up for Gmail and begin to receive the inevitable next wave of Paris Hilton spam, will Gmail begin to serve me ads to porn sites? Google says "no," but the company hasn't really communicated where it'll draw the line on this. And that allows me -- and several other privacy pundits -- to dream up all kinds of inappropriate ways in which Gmail could potentially invade my life via my inbox.

Personally, it would make me a bit uncomfortable knowing that my emails were being scanned, collected and stored all for the purpose of marketing product to me. I send all kinds of nonsense to my good friends, and the thought of anyone looking over my shoulder while I'm emailing friends a recap of the events of last Saturday's barbeque makes me cringe.

Having said that, I'm not quite ready to grab my pitchfork and torch and storm Google's headquarters with the rest of the privacy villagers. After all, Google has been pretty open about Gmail functionality, and that has got to count for something. And if consumers, provided with full disclosure regarding the privacy they are giving up, decide to sign-up for Gmail, then I'm not going to try to convince them that I know better. Consumers have a right to sell, trade or give away any and all of their personal information to anyone they'd like.

To put it another way, just because I think it's crazy to let any company view my personal correspondence in exchange for storage space I could purchase for a few bucks, I understand that other rational people may feel differently. I've watched people give up their personal information to a tobacco company in exchange for a $2 lighter, so I guess anything is possible.

So for the most part, I don't take issue with the Gmail message scanning and contextual ad serving system. However, I do see a problem if Gmail is scanning messages from a non-Gmail account to a Gmail account.

As I've explained previously, Gmail users have made an arms length transaction with Google to give up certain rights in order to receive the extra storage space. So if Google scans through the text of an email message between two Gmail users in order to serve a contextual ad, at least both parties know that Google is doing it, and have the ability to opt-out by canceling their Gmail account.

But if I send an email message from my Hotmail account to a friend with a Gmail account, I don't have the ability to opt-out of Google's contextual scan. Nor have I received a benefit that might offset the intrusion. Heck, if I'm a new or infrequent email user, I might not even know that Google is scanning my message at all. And that's where I draw the line. If I'm not a Gmail user, I don't think Google has any right to scan through my message for any reason other than to check it for spam content. Perhaps Google has already taken this issue into account, and has a plan for addressing these concerns.

But to date, I haven't heard that defense from Google. In fact, I haven't heard much of anything from the company. And that's where I really take issue with Google regarding Gmail. It almost seems like the whole controversy has caught Google by surprise, and the folks there are just hoping that it'll go away. If that's the case, Google needs to step up and share their vision with the rest of the marketplace. By remaining relatively quiet, Google is allowing others to define Gmail ("intrusive", "creepy") instead of defining Gmail themselves ("sexy", "fun", "informative", "valuable"). Tell consumers why they need Gmail. Tell them why it's cool. Tell them why it's fun.

My completely unsolicited advice to Google is they need to create a public dialog in defense of Gmail. They need to proactively describe the benefits Gmail users will derive. Perhaps Google can draw some inspiration from the wireless carrier that is generating demand for its camera phone service.

Personally, I don't understand why anyone would need a camera phone, but that's not the point. Those commercials have given consumers dozens of reasons why they can't live without a camera phone. Some of the reasons might be a bit over the top (like the commercial featuring the gremlin who steals socks from the drier), but all of their reasons are fun. All of them stir the imagination, and all of them have left me feeling positively about the product.

I'd like to hear Google tell a story about two people trading emails on its service who received tremendous value from Gmail's contextual ads. Tell us how the company plans to address privacy issues relating to scanning emails from other ISPs. Tell the marketplace why the doomsday scenarios presented by EPIC and other privacy groups will not come to fruition with Gmail. If Google procrastinates in getting its message to market, they are at risk of having Gmail defined and eventually snuffed out by opponents. And that would be a shame.

Consumers need to know what's in it for them. C'mon Google, what are you waiting for?

Alan Chapell is a consultant focusing on privacy and data collection strategies -- helping clients to build customer loyalty and mitigate against risk. He has been in the interactive space for more than seven years with firms such as Jupiter Research, DoubleClick and Cheetahmail. Mr. Chapell is the New York Chapter Chairman of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and he publishes a daily blog on issues of consumer privacy.