• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, February 1, 2012

Microsoft is making the most of the flap over Google's decision to revise its privacy policy. Today, the Seattle-based software giant unveiled an ad campaign bashing Google for the new policy.

“Google is in the process of making some unpopular changes to some of their most popular products,” reads the ad. “Those changes, cloaked in language like 'transparency,' 'simplicity,' and 'consistency,' are really about one thing: making it easier for Google to connect the dots between everything you search, send, say or stream while using one of their services.”

The ad goes on to say that the changes result in “users' priorities being de- prioritized.”

“If these changes rub you the wrong way,” the ad concludes, “please consider using our portfolio of award-winning products and services.”

Microsoft's campaign stems from Google's recent decision to combine data about signed-in users across YouTube, Gmail, Picasa and other services. Google stresses that the new policy doesn't allow it to collect any more data than before, and that it still isn't sharing users' data with third parties. The major difference to consumers is that Google will be able to combine data in order to craft more detailed profiles, which it will use for ad targeting.

Whether that will threaten people's privacy is a matter of debate, but the company's move nonetheless spurred a good deal of pushback -- both by consumer groups and on Capitol Hill. The major complaint appears to be that people aren't going to be able to prevent Google from aggregating data about them, except by signing out of services. But signing out isn't practical for everyone; people who use Gmail, for instance, often stay signed in all day to check for messages more easily.

Regardless, people seem to have a lot of angst about online privacy these days. Clearly Microsoft is aiming to tap into that unease. But this strategy seems risky, considering how easily it could backfire on Microsoft -- especially because, in some ways, Google has a better track record on privacy. In 2006, Microsoft (along with AOL) quietly complied with a government subpoena for millions of search queries -- even though search queries sometimes contain users' names, financial data or other potentially sensitive information. Google successfully opposed the subpoena.