Note that he could be living in a jurisdiction where the law provides better protection for electronic communications (email being one of them), thus preventing his ISP from reading/analyzing/reselling his emails.
For all the problems we've manage to create, I'll trust Norwegian provider Telenor much more than I do Google. If only because they share my jurisdiction (Norway) -- where I have rights. I have no rights in the US -- at least when I'm not physically there.