<p>SAN FRANCISCO -- A San Jose federal judge has ruled that Google must face a lawsuit that accuses the tech giant of illegally opening and reading the contents of email sent through its Gmail service in violation of federal wiretapping statutes.</p><p>"The court finds that it cannot conclude that any party -- Gmail users or non-Gmail users -- has consented to Google's reading of email for the purposes of creating user profiles or providing targeted advertising," U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh wrote in her ruling.</p><p>Google says it automatically scans emails to target advertising based on words that appear in Gmail messages but says that machines, not people, do the scanning.</p><p>"We're disappointed in this decision and are considering our options," Google said in an emailed statement. "Automated scanning lets us provide Gmail users with security and spam protection, as well as great features."</p><p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-google-gmail-scanning-lawsuit-judge-ruling-20130926,0,5198528.story">Keep reading...</a></p>