Here are two clips from the "news" media:
"Reps. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, called on the agency "to investigate whether Google's proposed changes violate" a March consent decree to settle FTC claims that the search-engine operator used deceptive practices and violated its own privacy guidelines when it introduced the Buzz social networking service in 2010."

"From a Google standpoint, this means users will interact with a single interface, it also means that users will not be able to maintain separate profiles for YouTube and Google+, or for Gmail and Picasa, for example. Each existing profile that uses the same login email will be combined into a single account."

My interpretation is from Little Red Riding Hood: -- "The better to see you with, my dear." Or, another flavor -- if you use anything that is, or gets near, Google products, your info is to be combined and used for whatever Google wants to do with it.

I also have a hard time trying to understand what they are changing. I think they deliberately make it hard to understand. It wouldn't surprise me if the supposed "changes" are merely a tool being used to periodically call attention to themselves in the hope that you will make greater use of Google.

Google's privacy policy is, IMHO, not as important as you are. Your decision to use Google and the reasons you make that choice are what is really important. Google's business is to make money, and to that end they provide several free services and they are hoping you will explore all of them and like them enough to use Google. Based on how you use Google, you will see ads that are targeted at you. How often you actually click on the ads and/or buy the product being offered affects how much Google gets paid by the advertisers.

If you are comfortable with this, like the convenience of being able to access your mail via a web browser or you just don't want to install and use an email client, then using webmail (whether Google or something else) probably suits you. If it does, fine. As for me, I already see enough advertising and prefer not to have it in my email. YMMV.

I have no choice for e-mail except a web based program since my ISP does not provide e-mail service. I decided that g-mail was probably the best of the lot, so I use it, but do not access via a browser. I configured it to download into my desktop mail program.

As for privacy on the Web, only a fool believes that such exists. It behooves each user to guard against posting any information, be it on Facebook or whatever, that you would not want everyone to see.

By the way, even when I access my g-mail via a browser, I do not get any ads whatsoever since I use AdBlock and AdBlock Plus extensions on both Firefox and Chrome. I never use IE.

I posted before and I share again, don't be surprised that sometime in the future the federal government goes after the entire Goggle empire. As everyone knows I don't run around worrying about the sky falling or some governmental activity opening the door to another Nazi Germany. However, I am starting to ponder as to what Google is doing with all this personal and non-personal information. They are extremely configured into the day-to-day life of every American; with and without permission.

What I am surprised about is in the past many in the Internet community voiced their displeasure with the dominance of Microsoft as to IE versus other browsers. They were the evil empire and the Justice Department responded by going after MS. Today you never here anything about the market share, tactics, and future goals of Google. As I always say too many people are sheep.

DA

Google is in the business of getting you what you're looking for, and knowing everything about you makes it better at its job.

I'd certainly be curious to know just how many Google employees actually use Gmail, Google Search, etc. as their main applications and how many of them, by contrast, have other email accounts, other preferred search engines, etc. I mean, of course, Google employees tout their products and sound (e.g. on Official Google You Tube videos) as if they routinely "eat their own dogfood." ("Here are the Labs I use in my Gmail." "Here's how I use Google Docs." Etc.) But it's the percentage of those who don't routinely do so that would interest me -- as well as their reasons for (not) doing so ! ;-)

FWIW, here's an interesting article I just found from Nov. on Google Privacy.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2011/11/two-honest-google-employees-our.html