Google has been sentenced to endure twenty years of “regular, independent privacy audits,” after plastering everybody’s personal stuff pretty much everywhere with its Buzz service last year.

There’s a good reason I don’t use Gmail and I don’t use Hotmail — and instead am very happy to spend $149 a year for Apple’s MobileMe family pack. When a service is free, you are the thing being bought and sold — your private email and surfing habits, that is. I’d rather pay a little money and keep my privacy, thanks.