Google and the Gmail user both benefit. This why there are so many Gmail users! The Gmail user gets a free email account with a large storage allowance, an eff

Google and the Gmail user both benefit. This why there are so many Gmail users! The Gmail user gets a free email account with a large storage allowance, an effective search engine, and a dynamite spam filter. Google gets to collect revenue in excess of cost (Google is very good at server farms) for the opportunity to show said user relevant ads. Thus, Google's access to the content of the user's email benefits both Google and the user!