The money quote:

"The best thing that would happen is for Facebook to open up its data," Mr. Schmidt said. "Failing that, there are other ways to get that information." He declined to be specific.

What is google gonna do if they're not authorized to access the users' private social graph? Any sniffing/MIM/deep-inspection trick they might pull off would be illegal and unauthorized. Are they gonna bury the consent form in some google ToS/EULA that people will need to click through to read their emails?

Seems like an empty threat to me.