Google's Dirty Gmail Secret

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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May 18, 1997
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Don't be evil has nothing to do with Google any more. WSJ (Archive Link) is telling us that even after Google told us that it would not be allowing other companies to go through our Gmail boxes, it still seems to be going on. Whodathunkit?

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Letting employees read user emails has become “common practice” for companies that collect this type of data, says Thede Loder, the former chief technology officer at eDataSource Inc., a rival to Return Path. He says engineers at eDataSource occasionally reviewed emails when building and improving software algorithms. “Some people might consider that to be a dirty secret,” says Mr. Loder. “It’s kind of reality.”
 
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Is that all?

This won't convince many people to abandon Gmail. They'd have to do something much worse, like ruin Luke Skywalker, to do that.
 
Saw this earlier through Flipboard (meaning the Gmail/Google thing this thread is about), it's not that difficult to discover what 3rd party apps could be compromising your info and simply remove them but then again that will probably cause issues with using those apps too, either way it's a lose-lose I suppose. Saw this earlier as well and checked mine - and I've got like 45 3rd party apps installed across various devices and only 3 of them were listed with that level of access - so if you're interested this is how to get to it:

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-...-scroll-down-to-the-very-bottom-of-the-page-2
 
Third party email clients/websites require access to your inbox to be able to manage your email. Whoddathunkit?

This is a bit like complaining to a door factory that strangers can enter your house after you give them the keys...
 
Have fun reading all my spam. :D
They might even find an occasional coupon offer, or even a rare receipt from something I bought where I didn't want to use my regular email account.

They could probably get more information digging through my trash. :eek:
 
I thought that Google's dirty little Gmail secret was that they *still* haven't fixed the FirstnameLastname / Firstname.Lastname bug with addresses. I still get some other guy's email who doesn't have the "." in his address.
 
Google changed their motto from "do no evil" to "do the right thing" in 2015 (via parent Alphabet). It's pretty obvious that the latter can more easily be ideologically manipulated.
 
Long ago, I bought a couple of .org domains for chickenfeed, and I have email hosted on them for a few bucks a year.
Because free email is worth what you pay for it.
 
Ha...I checked what apps have access and I have 4 items in there, 2 of them are google apps
Meh
 
That's why the only mailbox I trust is my own. I know that I'm not going to be reading my own emails. Wait, what?
 
Not much one can do about it sadly.
Am aware of literally two email.. providers..? Services..? That guarantee your privacy (as in actually, forget what is touted), and both are naturally requiring a subscription; which of course is alright, fair's fair. But you add it all up, the donations, the mini subscriptions, the monthly extras of this and that, it really starts to add up to quite respectable sums, so yes, i refrain.

You might call me stingy, to a degree i guess that'd be accurate?
 
What do you expect, it's a free email account. Just like when Windows 10 let you update for free and everyone complained about being spied on. With that said, once MS started charging for Windows 10 and or you paid for your lic, they should not be spying or showing adverts to those customers.
 
ZeqOBpf6 said:
Want out of that?
https://protonmail.com/
https://www.tutanota.com/
Click to expand...

Also if you like a super ethical company.

https://posteo.de/


" We want to be a good employer: Posteo solely uses permanent full time contracts. We pay appropriate wages and do not demand overtime. Our employees can design their own work hours with flexibility. At Posteo, there is also a daily, free, organic-vegetarian lunch. "
Click to expand...

https://posteo.de/en/site/about_posteo

it's not free, but that probably means less chance of you being the product. It says 1 euro a month but i assume USD is accepted.
 
ZeqOBpf6 said:
Want out of that?
https://protonmail.com/
https://www.tutanota.com/

Further reading
https://www.privacytools.io/
https://prism-break.org/

Want to do nothing and just post unoriginal, predictable quips? You are already at the right place! :)
Click to expand...
This is great, thank you. I've often toyed around with using my NAS to host my own email server, but that's more scratching my tinkering itch, as opposed to me taking it as a serious consideration. I want gmail convenience and stability, but without the google creeping.

Thanks!
 
I stopped using gmail years ago, and the only google service I still actively use is youtube.
 
one of the things i do is host a Private email server, and i have my own domain residing on it, as well as the customers. I do though very much use gmail for a variety of things.. and i keep my ancient hotmail account around solely for MS account stuff.
 
Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Most ISPs, Many CC companies, etc. are in the business of selling and allowing access to data collected from us the product. Today it is Google getting publicly caught, last week Facebook, the week before company X. Same basic story, different company, same result.
 
So, let me see if I get this right.

If you use a third party app to access your gmail account, that 3rd party app can collect your emails and the programmer can read them.

That makes sense. It is still wrong, but it makes sense. It seems that once the emails are presented in plain text through the third party app, there is little or nothing anyone can do to prevent hidden code in the app from sending the data elsewhere, to be read.
 
GNUse_the_force said:
Also if you like a super ethical company.

https://posteo.de/




https://posteo.de/en/site/about_posteo

it's not free, but that probably means less chance of you being the product. It says 1 euro a month but i assume USD is accepted.
Click to expand...

The problem seems to be that no matter what email service you use, you need to use a client software or application. That software could be leaking your information to partners for their reading pleasure.
 
Kelvarr said:
I don't know if I trust a company that provides organic-vegetarian lunches. :D
Click to expand...
The vegetarian part is fine, tends to be cheaperal and lower resource than meat, it is the illogical and wasteful organic part that I would call into question. How rational are they really?
 
Employees have no problem eavesdropping on private emails, but working for military contracts is a sin.
 
_l_ said:
I think that if it's something private then don't use the internet. Get a pen and paper and send a letter. Just imagine the response if you sent your wife or girlfriend a hand written letter :barefoot:
Click to expand...
Possibly dangerous advice. If it's something private then handing it over to a billion Government employees is very risky. Remember Hannibal?
 
Is there any alternate to gmail that has a simple easy to understand name?

I have enough trouble trying to spell out my first name to call centres the other side of the world. I can imagine spelling out posteo or tutanota over the phone will be painful.

While I appreciate protonmails encryption I really hated having to double password just to log in all the time. Also when it wouldnt work with other email apps at the time. I assume their app is better and theyve figured a lot of this out by now.
 
gbnz said:
Is there any alternate to gmail that has a simple easy to understand name?

I have enough trouble trying to spell out my first name to call centres the other side of the world. I can imagine spelling out posteo or tutanota over the phone will be painful.

While I appreciate protonmails encryption I really hated having to double password just to log in all the time. Also when it wouldnt work with other email apps at the time. I assume their app is better and theyve figured a lot of this out by now.
Click to expand...

iCloud.com
Outlook.com
Yahoo.com
Mail.com

Plenty of easy to name free email providers that aren’t google.
 
I like gmail. I use gmail as one of the reason I use adblockers. Unwanted intrusion of third parties that gmail hands my info to.
 
I understand that Google and Gmail are pretty damned evil. But the shit's just easy to use and I'm used to it. I know, that's a horrible reason to keep using evil products, but give me some alternatives, that are realistic.

I am, however, using Bing as my default search engine just so I can cash in on some of those (probably non existing) prizes.
 
gbnz said:
While I appreciate protonmails encryption I really hated having to double password just to log in all the time. Also when it wouldnt work with other email apps at the time. I assume their app is better and theyve figured a lot of this out by now.
Click to expand...

i believe that is actually opt in now, from memory.

acascianelli said:
Yahoo.com
Click to expand...

F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-y1y7ZneeLu0%2FUUQqAHB1pZI%2FAAAAAAAADCU%2F2Z-seVDLMQg%2Fs1600%2Fokay-no.jpg
 
SvenBent said:
I am a long time happy user of protonmail.
but still you have to trust protonmail is doing what they are saying.
Click to expand...

Totally, they seem maybe a bit too slick ? There is now a 'swiss data' for cloud with the same branding, theme ( other than a red color lol ) and same "under twenty mountains for safety" buzz word. Might be part of the same Swiss company idk. Either way, someone is always able to see your online shenanigans. A reputable company that can read your mails vs a scammer / hacker ? Most people will trade some privacy for security imo.
 
GNUse_the_force said:
Totally, they seem maybe a bit too slick ? There is now a 'swiss data' for cloud with the same branding, theme ( other than a red color lol ) and same "under twenty mountains for safety" buzz word. Might be part of the same Swiss company idk. Either way, someone is always able to see your online shenanigans. A reputable company that can read your mails vs a scammer / hacker ? Most people will trade some privacy for security imo.
Click to expand...

Yup the problem is as always. Anyone doing a service for us, will know about the services they do for us.
i just wish more of these ennrypted email services would develop an EncMail protocol so at least they could do somekinde of encryption mail service to mail service.
Prefferable some kind of fully automatec Hiddne PGP like ecnryptions with the OPTION to use your own generated keys. but otherwise fully transparent for the users.

You just gotta dream right ?
 
SvenBent said:
Yup the problem is as always. Anyone doing a service for us, will know about the services they do for us.
i just wish more of these ennrypted email services would develop an EncMail protocol so at least they could do somekinde of encryption mail service to mail service.
Prefferable some kind of fully automatec Hiddne PGP like ecnryptions with the OPTION to use your own generated keys. but otherwise fully transparent for the users.

You just gotta dream right ?
Click to expand...

Just easier to host your own using some web host like cpanel and a reputable cloud VPS provider at that stage, setting up your own email for business, friends and family isn't that expensive and you can trust it then.

afaik protonmail uses PGP when it is proton -> proton accounts.
 
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