New Gmail Users Get Google+ As Well

One reason people sign up for online email accounts like Gmail and Hotmail is that they're free and easy. Fill in a few blanks and you've got a new email address.

Google has added a few steps to the process, requiring new users to create a Google profile along with their new Gmail account.  Oh, and it also gets you a Google+ account, whether you want it or not.

The new sign-up form name, birthday, gender (required for Google+) and mobile phone number (not required).

Google has been going to great lengths to cajole, persuade and outright require users of its various services to sign up for Google+, its attempt to compete with Facebook.  After all, goes the think at the 'plex, there are 350 million Gmail users and "only" 90 million Google+ members, so obviously there's plenty of room for growth, if only the strays can be rounded up and herded into the corral.

While some consumers may see this as annoying or a threat to their privacy, it's not likely Google is going to relax the pressure.  It sees Facebook as a serious threat to its search business and is doing everything it can to make Google+ a serious competitor.

Also, Google's most recent earnings statement came as something of a disappointment to analysts and investors who have become accustomed to huge revenue increases and high profit margins. 

Antitrust worries

Still, there may be trouble ahead.  Bloomberg News reported recently that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has expanded its antitrust investigation of Google to include Google+.

The report comes after Google announced that it would include personal data gathered from Google+ in the results of users' searches, a move that raised the hackles of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

"Google's business practices raise concerns related to both competition and the implementation of the Commission’s consent order," EPIC said, referring to a settlement that the FTC reached with Google that establishes new privacy safeguards for users of all Google products and services and subjects the company to regular privacy audits. Google first confirmed the FTC’s antitrust investigation in June 2011.

EPIC has also been urging the FTC to investigate whether Google uses  Youtube search rankings to give preferential treatment to its own video content over non-Google content.