Googlemail And Privacy Issues

[Penkoprod]

Has anyone noticed how the sponsored links down the right hand side of the page containing the emails you either have sent or recieved seem to be directly related to whats in the email itself? (and not just from the subject line either, but from the body of the email) Its almost as it it were "read" by someone/something and targeted the ads

I have stopped using it for that very reason

Penkoprod

[george]

Targetted ads is the whole idea about Gmail. Its all automatic, noone reads your email.

[JimmyTheMook]

Targetted ads is the whole idea about Gmail. Its all automatic, noone reads your email.

Agree here , it is an extension of the google search engine.

[Penkoprod]

Targetted ads is the whole idea about Gmail. Its all automatic, noone reads your email.

I'm not that stupid to think there is some team of people reading each and every Email that goes through Google, but there IS something "not quite right" about the whole thing

How DOES it target the ads?

And just think of the privacy issues for a moment

Penkoprod

[george]

Don't worry!

[Maestro]

Has anyone noticed how the sponsored links down the right hand side of the page containing the emails you either have sent or recieved seem to be directly related to whats in the email itself?

Yes, that’s how it works. Somebody has to pay for this free email service, after all, and it is the advertisers.

Mind you, it is not a person reading your incoming and outgoing email; it is a computer program. This technique has got a name but I can’t remember it at the moment. Consider it context-sensitive advertising. If I get an email from a friend about an interesting book he is reading at the moment and because I am logged in through an Internet service provider in Zurich, Switzerland – yes, they check that, too – my screen may display an advertisement from a book store in Zurich rather than from a hardware store in Chicago, USA. Clever, isn't it?

--

Maestro

[KhunMarco]

It's based on the same principle of adsense , the contextual advertising is delivered thanks to bots "reading" the content of your web site, in this case they read your mail.

Now this is all good but remember that someone can read your mail on gmail or on any email provider, encryption is the only way to be safe

[Thai-Spy]

Targetted ads is the whole idea about Gmail. Its all automatic, noone reads your email.

I'm not that stupid to think there is some team of people reading each and every Email that goes through Google, but there IS something "not quite right" about the whole thing

How DOES it target the ads?

And just think of the privacy issues for a moment

Penkoprod

You signed away your right to certain forms of privacy including those targeted ads when you agreed to the Google Terms of Service and opened the account. And frankly your email is no more unsafe with Google than any other email provider; your personal communications are still sitting on one or more computers not under your exclusive control. One thing in favor of Google is that they are very high profile and if they were genuinely misusing data in any way there be an immediate howl from the technocratic chattering classes.

[kayo]

This is nothing new. It has perhaps been made more "mainstream news" purely because it is google, but all the web mail services have 'bots' detecting keywords in them.

For example,

even if you were with hotmail, yahoo, etc etc.. and you do a search of your mailbox, for a specific mail... how do you think it works?

It's all the same sh1t, different company. Goodle just do a better job of targetting your ads.

In terms of privacy,

I'm sure those Google boys or most others who are that IT capable, don't really give a toss about your or my mail content

I really shouldn't concern myself if I were you.

But for your perusal have a look at this. (from gmail FAQ website)

Gmail and privacy

1. Is Google reading my email?

No. Google scans the text of Gmail messages in order to filter spam and detect viruses, just as all major webmail services do. Google also uses this scanning technology to deliver targeted text ads and other related information. This is completely automated and involves no humans.

2. Will my Gmail messages appear in Google search results?

No, the contents of your email will never be included as Google search results.

3. What does Google do with my personal data?

Google uses this information to provide you a reliable service. Google does not share or reveal email content or personal information with third parties, other than in certain exceptions dictated by the law and common sense. For full details, please refer to the 'When we may disclose your personal information' section of our privacy policy. These exceptions are standard across the industry and are necessary for email providers to assist their users and to meet legal requirements.

4. What does Google do to protect my privacy?

Google takes several steps to guard the confidentiality of users' information by offering a number of industry-leading protections. For full details, please visit the Protecting your privacy section below.

More on Gmail and privacy

Quotes on privacy

Google Mail: Virtue Lies in the In-Box - David Pogue

New York Times - May 13, 2004

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/13/technolo...its/13stat.html (registration required)

"If Gmail creeps you out, just don't sign up. ... That would be a shame, though, because you'd be missing a wonderful thing. Even in its current, early state, available only to a few thousand testers, Gmail appears destined to become one of the most useful Internet services since Google itself.

... The ads are so subtle, so easily ignored, that it's hard to imagine anyone preferring the big, blinking, slow-loading graphic ads that appear every time you check for messages at the Hotmail and Yahoo Mail sites. Even more refreshing, Gmail doesn't turn you into an unpaid billboard for Yahoo or Microsoft (Hotmail's owner) by stamping ads on at the bottom of every outgoing message, no matter how sensitive the topic. ...

The only population likely not to be delighted by Gmail are those still uncomfortable with those computer-generated ads. Those people are free to ignore or even bad-mouth Gmail, but they shouldn't try to stop Google from offering Gmail to the rest of us. We know a good thing when we see it."

Google’s E-mail Service Flexible - Matthew Fordahl

Information Week - June 4, 2004

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showA...icleID=21401484

As for privacy, there are a lot bigger fish to fry as messages travel from computer to computer across the Internet and into the recipient's Google account. The privacy debate tends to obscure assessment of other Gmail attributes--namely usability, storage and search. In most of these areas, Google trounces other free E-mail services, including those offered by Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo! Inc.

Read My Mail, Please: The silly privacy fears about Google's e-mail service - Paul Boutin

Slate - April 15, 2004

http://slate.msn.com/id/2098946

"Gmail isn't an invasion of privacy, and its ads are preferable to the giant blinking banners for diets and dating services that are splashed across my other Web mail accounts. … Gmail critics have ignored the fact that automated software already scans the contents of your incoming e-mail messages. Antispam and antivirus software at most ISPs and corporate firewalls comb through the personal contents of your e-mail all the time. Gmail is just a little more upfront about it."

A First Look at Google's Gmail - Arik Hesseldahl

Forbes.com - April 12, 2004

http://www.forbes.com/personaltech/2004/04...412tentech.html

"…Google insists quite clearly in its privacy policy that 'No human reads your mail to target ads or other information without your consent.' The process by which it pushes ads at its users is fully automated. Fears about privacy problems inherent with the Gmail service are, in our opinion, overblown."

Is Gmail Safe? - Lance Ulanoff

PC Magazine - April 21, 2004

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1571491,00.asp

"... [Gmail's contextual ads]would be out of the way, but available to people that want them. Yes, there are people who might actually appreciate the service. I could imagine a scenario where a friend e-mails me about Sony's new Sony DCR-HC40 MiniDV Handycam. I'm interested in learning more, and then I notice that there are some text-based ads next to my mail message pointing to online stores where I can buy the digital camcorder or even prices on the tapes that it uses. What's not to like about that?"

The Fuss About Gmail and Privacy: Nine Reasons Why It's Bogus - Tim O'Reilly

O'Reilly Media - April 16, 2004

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/4707

"Despite the claims of critics, I don't see that the kind of automated text scanning that Google would need to do to insert context-sensitive ads is all that different from the kind of automated text scanning that is used to detect spam."

Don't be afraid of the big bad Gmail - Mathew Honan

Salon.com - April 26, 2004

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/04/...mail/index.html (registration required)

"The privacy issue is overblown. Indeed, as Sen. Figueroa herself points out, virtually every piece of e-mail sent across the Internet is already scanned by robots, be it for spam or viruses. If you have a problem with robots reading your mail -- with or without your consent -- you're going to have to go back to the U.S. Postal Service, or start encrypting everything."

Preview: Google's Gmail Beta

ExtremeTech - May 5, 2004

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1586090,00.asp

"We have absolutely no problem with how Google is handling the placement of these ads in Gmail. We think it's being done tastefully and with the user's comfort in mind. Google has done something no other webmail service has been able to achieve – they've taken their customer's comfort and sensibilities into consideration while also preserving a viable ad-based business model."

The Gmail Saga

Brad Templeton (Chairman, Electronic Frontier Foundation)

http://www.templetons.com/brad/gmail.html

"…well-targetted (sic) advertising is itself a useful thing. If you take as a given that you're going to accept ads to subsidize an activity, few wish to have their time wasted by ads that are irrelevant. … Much of what Google is doing with Gmail (sic) is innovative and worthwhile. It would be ridiculous to see it banned, as Senator Figueroa would suggest."

Google Mail: Novelty or Nosy? - Alyce Lomax

The Motley Fool - April 13, 2004

http://www.fool.com/news/mft/2004/mft04041315.htm (registration required)

"…Though I understand the privacy argument, I also think it's overblown. … These days, there's often a trade of some degree of privacy for some technological service that makes life easier or better. Being what it is, I don't see how Gmail should be judged any harsher."

Google It: Privacy Advocates Wrong About Regulating Gmail - Andrew M. Grossman

Heritage Foundation - April 15, 2004

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Regulation/wm479.cfm

"In the face of obvious consumer interest and Google's clearly written privacy policy, legislators and regulators would do consumers a grave disservice if they were to ban or otherwise hobble Gmail. The last thing that California and Europe should be telling technology companies is that their innovations are not welcome."

and>

Privacy in email

In personal email communications, there has always been, and always should be, an expectation of privacy between the sender and the intended recipients of a message, enabling open communication with friends, colleagues, family, and others.

Privacy is compromised, however, if personal information or private email content is shared with parties other than the sender and intended recipients without their consent. This is not the case when people use Gmail. Google does not share or reveal email content or personal information with third parties. Email messages remain strictly between the sender and intended recipients, even when only one of the parties is a Gmail user.

Of course, the law and common sense dictate some exceptions. These exceptions include requests by users that Google's support staff access their email messages in order to diagnose problems; when Google is required by law to do so; and when we are compelled to disclose personal information because we reasonably believe it's necessary in order to protect the rights, property or safety of Google, its users and the public. For full details, please refer to the 'When we may disclose your personal information' section of our privacy policy. These exceptions are standard across the industry and are necessary for email providers to assist their users and to meet legal requirements.

Targeted ads in Gmail

All major free webmail services carry advertising, and most of it is irrelevant to the people who see it. Google believes that showing relevant advertising offers more value to users than displaying random pop-ups or untargeted banner ads. In Gmail, users will see text ads and links to related pages that are relevant to the content of their messages. The links to related pages are similar to Google search results, and are culled from Google's extensive index of web pages. They are selected solely for their helpfulness and are not paid advertisements.

In Gmail, ads appear alongside messages, in the same way that ads appear next to search results on Google. As this screenshot shows, the ads are clearly identified as 'Sponsored Links.' They are displayed in a way that doesn't interrupt users as they read their messages and ads are never inserted into the body text of either incoming or outgoing Gmail messages.

Ads and links to related pages only appear alongside the message that they are targeted to, and are only shown when the Gmail user, whether sender or recipient, is viewing that particular message. No email content or other personally identifiable information is ever shared with advertisers. In fact, advertisers do not even know how often their ads are shown in Gmail, as this data is aggregated across thousands of sites in the Google Network.

By offering Gmail users relevant ads and information related to the content of their messages, we aim to offer users a better webmail experience. For example, if you and your friends are planning a vacation, you may want to see news items or travel ads about the destination you're considering.

To ensure a quality user experience for all Gmail users, we avoid showing ads reflecting sensitive or inappropriate content by only showing ads that have been classified as "Family-Safe." Gmail's filters also block ads from running next to messages about catastrophic events or tragedies, erring on the side of not displaying an ad if the content is questionable.

Many people have found that the search-related ads on Google.com can be valuable--not merely a necessary evil, but a welcome feature. We believe that users will also find Gmail's ads and related pages to be helpful, because the information reflects their interests. In fact, we have already received positive feedback from Gmail users about the quality and usefulness of our ads and related pages.

Scanning email content

All email services scan your email. They do this routinely to provide such popular features as spam filtering, virus detection, search, spellchecking, forwarding, auto-responding, flagging urgent messages, converting incoming email into cell phone text messages, automatic saving and sorting into folders, converting text URLs to clickable links, and reading messages to the blind. These features are widely accepted, trusted, and used by hundreds of millions of people every day.

Google scans the text of Gmail messages in order to filter spam and detect viruses, just as all major webmail services do. Google also uses this scanning technology to deliver targeted text ads and other related information. This is completely automated and involves no humans.

When a user opens an email message, computers scan the text and then instantaneously display relevant information that is matched to the text of the message. Once the message is closed, ads are no longer displayed. It is important to note that the ads generated by this matching process are dynamically generated each time a message is opened by the user--in other words, Google does not attach particular ads to individual messages or to users' accounts.

We recognize that seeing ads based on the content of an email message can be unsettling at first. Our experience has been that this feeling recedes as users become more familiar with Gmail. However, some people, many of whom have not used Gmail, have reacted by condemning all automatic scanning of email content, on the grounds that it amounts to a violation of privacy. We think this criticism is misplaced. All major email services, including Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail, automatically scan email content for the benefit of users. When email messages are fully protected from unwanted disclosure, the automatic scanning of email does not amount to a violation of privacy.

On the other hand, delivering information gathered through email scanning to a third party would be a violation of privacy. Google does not do this. Neither email content nor any personal information is ever shared with other parties as a result of our ad-targeting process.

Rights of senders and recipients

Some people have expressed the concern that Gmail may compromise the privacy of those who send email messages to Gmail accounts, since the senders have not necessarily agreed to Gmail's privacy policies or Terms of Use. Though it may seem plausible at first, this worry is based on a misunderstanding of how Gmail actually works, and ignores the fact that for senders and recipients alike, there is no privacy violation to begin with. Using Gmail does not violate the privacy of senders since no one other than the recipient is allowed to read their email messages, and no one but the recipient sees targeted ads and related information.

In an email exchange, both senders and recipients should have certain rights. Senders should have the right to decide whom to send messages to, and to choose an email provider that they trust to deliver those messages. Recipients should also have certain rights, including the right to choose the method by which to view their messages. Recipients should have the right to read their email any way they choose, whether through a web interface (like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or Hotmail), a handheld device (like a BlackBerry or cellphone), a software program (such as Outlook), or even via a personal secretary.

On the Internet, senders are not required to consent to routine automatic processing of email content, such as for spam filtering or virus detection, or the automatic flagging or filing of messages into folders based on content. Requiring senders' consent would make no sense: otherwise, no spammer would ever agree to automatic processing, and spam filtering would be impossible. Email providers essentially act as personal assistants for subscribers, holding and delivering their email messages and carrying out various tasks (such as deleting spam, removing viruses, enabling search, or displaying related information). And of course, recipients have the right to forward, delete, print or distribute any message they receive.

By choosing to use Gmail, users are seeing ads and related information that they could easily find by doing a web search using some of the keywords in their email. Google is simply presenting this information to them in a relevant and unobtrusive manner, while saving users the extra step of having to type keywords into a search engine.

There are also many scenarios in which a recipient will benefit from seeing ads and information related to an email message, without the sender's explicit consent. For example, if you receive an email offer from one local gym, there's value in seeing offers from other gyms nearby. The ability to see comparative advertising from different competitors is an important consumer right, even if the sender may not desire it.

We believe users have the right to choose a free, ad-supported webmail interface to read and send email. We believe that many users will choose the Gmail option, with full knowledge that this free service is supported by targeted advertising, and with confidence that Google is protecting the privacy of all of their email messages.

etc....

Oh, nearly forgot... Here's the flipside argumentation. Darn Conspiracy theorists..

Edited April 15, 2007 by kayo

[Firefoxx]

It's the same thing used when you use the Google search engine. You type in something, and you get search results, along with ads related to the words you searched for (discreetly placed). If you think that someone's reading your e-mail, then someone's also looking at your search queries and responding to them in milliseconds. So no, no "person" is reading your e-mail. It's the wonder of technology.

Something big as people snooping on your e-mail would have become a public issue a long time ago. It's nice (and necessary) to be a bit paranoid, but try to understand how things work before you flip out over something.

[endure]

Unless your email is well-encrypted it's not private no matter how it's sent.

[britmaveric]

just keys off target words.... and if you believe anyone has time to read through billions of emails then you certainly need to see someone about your paranoia mate.

Edited April 15, 2007 by britmaveric

[cdnvic]

Your email is more private accessing gmail by SSL than pop'ing it from an ISP where there's no adsense. Read your Google mail and its ony you and the adsense bots who know the content.

Unless you use PGP, any one of the dozen or so relays along the line of sending an email could read it if they really cared to, and lacked a sense of ethics.

[kdvsn]

Has anyone noticed how the sponsored links down the right hand side of the page containing the emails you either have sent or recieved seem to be directly related to whats in the email itself? (and not just from the subject line either, but from the body of the email) Its almost as it it were "read" by someone/something and targeted the ads

I have stopped using it for that very reason

Penkoprod

If you're worried about that, one way to sidestep the issue would be to use an email cleint such as Outlook or Thunderbird and send/receive your gmail by POP3/SMTP instead of by using gmail's web interface.

Edited April 15, 2007 by kdvsn

[endure]

Has anyone noticed how the sponsored links down the right hand side of the page containing the emails you either have sent or recieved seem to be directly related to whats in the email itself? (and not just from the subject line either, but from the body of the email) Its almost as it it were "read" by someone/something and targeted the ads

I have stopped using it for that very reason

Penkoprod

If you're worried about that, one way to sidestep the issue would be to use an email cleint such as Outlook or Thunderbird and send/receive your gmail by POP3/SMTP instead of by using gmail's web interface.

Where it could just as easily be read by the people who control the POP/SMTP servers. Gmail offers you the facility to use POP/SMTP anyway.

[kdvsn]

Has anyone noticed how the sponsored links down the right hand side of the page containing the emails you either have sent or recieved seem to be directly related to whats in the email itself? (and not just from the subject line either, but from the body of the email) Its almost as it it were "read" by someone/something and targeted the ads

I have stopped using it for that very reason

Penkoprod

If you're worried about that, one way to sidestep the issue would be to use an email cleint such as Outlook or Thunderbird and send/receive your gmail by POP3/SMTP instead of by using gmail's web interface.

Where it could just as easily be read by the people who control the POP/SMTP servers. Gmail offers you the facility to use POP/SMTP anyway.

And yes, I do know that Gmail has POP/SMTP, that's why I suggested it as a work-around.

Perhaps I misundestood, but I thought that the concern was Gmail havesting keywords out of emails. They do do that when you use thier web interface to send/receive email but I don't think that Gmail that on emails send via POP/SMTP.

[cdnvic]

They don't "harvest" as in read and save your emails elsewhere, they scan and deliver ads triggered by the content. POP mail may not have the ads, but it's actually less secure because it's not done through secure sockets like the web interface.

[kdvsn]

They don't "harvest" as in read and save your emails elsewhere, they scan and deliver ads triggered by the content. POP mail may not have the ads, but it's actually less secure because it's not done through secure sockets like the web interface.

In the case of GMail, POP/SMTP traffic between your computer and thier server is SSL encrypted. It's true eough though that POP/SMTP traffic to/from most providers is unecrypted.

[weary]

Postal workers can open your personal letters too. Be careful. And don't forget that somebody could be bugging your telephone.

Edited April 16, 2007 by weary

[sajal]

If you are so paranoid about 'something' reading your mails... stop using email...

almost all email services have anti spam and anti virus features... - their anti spam and anti virus softwares are 'reading' your mail.

if u use webmail... the mail providers webserver is 'reading' your mail and then passing it onto your browser.

Your browser 'reads' the incoming mail and parses it and displays on your computer.