Microsoft cites no-email crawl pledge [infoworld.com]

Unlike Google, Microsoft will not scan its hosted mail to target ads

Microsoft has a big responsibility in maintaining users' data as part of the company's hosted applications such as Hotmail, said Tim O'Brien, Microsoft senior director of platform strategy, on Tuesday. But unlike Google, Microsoft pledges not to scan users' email as a way to tailor advertising, he said.

With cloud applications, a level of trust now exists between provider and customer that is "almost unprecedented," O'Brien stressed at the SaaSCon 2010 conference in Santa Clara, Calif. The ad-funded model for services, meanwhile, presents opportunities to target ads, he said. Microsoft, he said, will collect information on gender, age, and preferences but will not provide ads based on data directly traceable to a particular user, said O'Brien.