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http://gmail-is-too-creepy.com/

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 6:15 am
by JayBird

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 7:43 am
by McGruff
I've always been a bit sceptical about gmail privacy.

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 7:58 am
by markl999
Must be worrying for those emailing government secrets around, not too sure they're interested in my recipe for pancakes though :)
It's the same as the postman can read your postcards if he wanted, but he doesn't, why? 'cause he just doesn't care :o

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:54 am
by McGruff
...until some psychologist somewhere decides that a liking for pancakes is an indicator of potential subversive behaviour.

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 9:03 pm
by nigma
I did get an email account with gmail, and for the most part I like the interface and the fact that now no one can get my name as their gmail mailing address (krisennay@gmail.com). Haha, suckers.

But the idea that they encourage you to not delete your email is a little suspicious ??

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:19 am
by m3mn0n
Someone e-mailed me that link, and I'll post my reply to that:
Never heard that [the conspiracy theory] before. That must have come from someone who is super paranoid about online security and privacy.

The only thing Gmail does is scan the web page for keywords, and it will display relevant links based on those keywords.

So if I get an e-mail about the Calgary Flames [my favorite hockey team], I might see some links to Hockey stores selling NHL stuff, or Ticketmaster offers, and etc.

That's about all it does, and I've scanned the privacy policy of Google so I'm sure they don't build profiles on you in any way that would compromise your privacy and security online.

And personally, I like it better this way. Why? Those targeted ads actually might be useful. I found many great pieces of software and websites from clicking Google Ads around the net, and I couldn't say the same for Yahoo or Hotmails ads.

How many times do they need to advertise Online dating, Job sites, or Web Hosting before they get the idea that you don't want to use that service?? ;)

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 9:51 am
by pickle
They encourage you not to delete email, the don't require you to. The reason for this is, from what I've read, not because they want to know more about you, but because they want to encourage an alternative way of user interaction with online email.

It is also still in beta, so things could change (though I doubt this particular aspect will).

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 10:02 am
by m3mn0n
Yeah it is one of the main revolutionary things Gmail has brought to free email services.


I can't believe people want to tarnish it's image before it is even done with Beta testing...sheesh.

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 10:50 am
by nigma
For the record I love gmail, I would die for gmail :)

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 12:39 am
by John Cartwright
Sami wrote:Yeah it is one of the main revolutionary things Gmail has brought to free email services.


I can't believe people want to tarnish it's image before it is even done with Beta testing...sheesh.
very true... people are afraid of the unknown...

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 3:53 am
by patrikG
You're worried because a machine reads your email? Some total stranger has done that for years (called Sysop). And Echolon and Carnivour monitor WWW, email, fax, phone etc. Microsoft does murky things and 90% of the world run it.

If you're worried about privacy: use PGP and stop whining. GMail is pretty good.

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 5:38 am
by m3mn0n
I know you like Gmail nigma, but I'm going to answer this for all those that might read this via browsing or coming here from a search engine:
nigma wrote:But the idea that they encourage you to not delete your email is a little suspicious ??
If you were to read their mission statement it states:
As part of Google's mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful, we're testing an email service called Gmail.

Gmail is a free, search-based webmail service that includes 1,000 megabytes (1 gigabyte) of storage. The backbone of Gmail is a powerful Google search engine that quickly recalls any message an account owner has ever sent or received. That means there's no need to file messages in order to find them again.
Now it would be rather pointless to launch a massive free sevice that revolves around search-based e-mail, and it's main goal is to organize the world's information, when there is only 5 MB of worth of e-mails that is searchable.

They are not trying to deceptively trick you into leaving all your e-mail on their servers for snooping purposes, they are making it easily accessable anytime and any place using their famous search engine technology.

When I first heard of this I was suprised it hasn't been done before because like me, I know dozens of other people who want to access their filed e-mails from their Outlook programs on their Home/Office PC, but can't since that would require one of those VNC programs, or Windows Remote Access enabled; which of course would leave your PC that much more vulnerable to intrusion.

I don't know about everyone else, but I personally don't plan to be involved in any terrorist activities, or any serious crime operations so there is no need to be worried about any governments, or Google staff reading your e-mail. So why be paranoid?

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 6:01 am
by McGruff
Why be paranoid? Because this will be abused. Because innocent people are arrested and harassed.

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 12:26 pm
by m3mn0n
Will is a strong word. There is no evidence that suggest Google will abuse Gmail, nor is there any underlying reason for it to be abused (that I am aware of). If anyone can provide documents that can lead one to believe otherwise, please post the link or quote the document.

Innocent people are always arrested and "harrassed" everywhere. You're innocent until proven guilty, so at the time of your arrest, you are innocent but under suspicion of being guilty. ;)

So then this goes back to being involved in any crimes, or being associated to anyone who is involved in any crimes. How many of the tens of millions of possible Gmail users fall into that category? Not a very large percentage. And for the ones who are, the same (or similar) policies and regulations are enforced with Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo, and all other ones who's HQ is in the US.

So like I said, I don't know about everyone else, but I personally don't plan to be involved in any terrorist activities, or any serious crime operations so there is no need to be worried about any governments, or Google staff reading your e-mail.

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 2:07 pm
by McGruff
Maybe I'm too cynical but I just don't believe that you'll be OK as long as you are innocent - ask around in guantanamo, for example. I've also had personal experience of being wrongly accused (although not of being an enemy combatant, whatever that is).

Law enforcement agencies get lazy or are under political pressure to produce results and sometimes don't mind cutting a few corners. Access to personal information on this scale - and they will have access to it - allows police etc to trawl for anything which might back up the weakest of cases. You just can't predict what someone in the future might choose to regard as suspicious or deliberately misconstrue in order to beat you up.

Then there's the battle for political control. At the time of the McCarthy witch hunts, access to gmail-like data (had it existed) would have been demanded in the interests of national security.

Put it another way: let's imagine Bush or Kerry saying hey we're going to run our campaign via a mailing list and gmail accounts. Bill Clinton gmailing jpg's of his big cuban to interns. Donald Rumsfeld gmailing war plans to anyone who'll listen (incidentally, I wonder what sort of targeted advertising he'd get?). Not likely.

Modern technologies increasingly allow the means for snooping around in people's lives - gmail is potentially a gold mine.