This is all fine and dandy (and obvious), but the point is that Google is not just a webmail provider. When someone switches to Gmail, it affects me, because it lets Google track and profile me that much better. Hence the original comment - "unplugging" from Google is basically impossible, because of the proliferation of Gmail use.

This would be a problem if GMail was the only means by which to contact people. It's not. You have a choice to use email.

The truth is, when you contact someone, you don't know what is happening to that information. Gmail, if anything, makes it more clear than most other means of communication.

If you're sending someone an email, Google keeping track of "John Doe emails [email protected]" is much less of a threat than all of the dozens of intermediate parties that will record your email indefinitely.