Hi all,
I didn't see anyone mention this, but Google stores all of the user's email communications indefinitely, even when the user deletes them. Besides, the contents of the email are analysed and matched up with advertisements. So Google and Gmail users are encouraged to carefully read through their privacy statements, if they value their privacy. If you are not worried or don't mind, go right ahead & enjoy 1 Gb of email storage space

.
Come to think of it, I have 36 GB on my own mail server, and I am the only user. But I never use it! LOL.
Check out these sites for more info:
http://gmail-is-too-creepy.com/
http://google-watch.org/