Live data from Hacker News

Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

bloomberg.com

41–50 of 460 posts

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#41
post #30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there RF-blocking wallets? Seems like something I'd probably buy if I had an identity worth stealing.

I have one of those and it's kind of a PITA. I actually didn't realize it blocked RF until after I bought it. It's annoying because I can't just tap my wallet on the MUNI gates or the card reader at work, I have to open up the damn thing and press the edge of the card poking out of the card holder against it and hope it works (sometimes it does, sometimes I have to pull out the card).

I probably just have too much junk in my wallet, but I can't ever just tap the wallet against an NFC reader anyway. It either doesn't read anything or it reads one of the other low-power NFC cards contained (I think I have 3-4). For quick access to a single card maybe you can get a lanyard or one of those retracty thingies people wear around their belt loops?

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#42
post #30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there RF-blocking wallets? Seems like something I'd probably buy if I had an identity worth stealing.

I have one of those and it's kind of a PITA. I actually didn't realize it blocked RF until after I bought it. It's annoying because I can't just tap my wallet on the MUNI gates or the card reader at work, I have to open up the damn thing and press the edge of the card poking out of the card holder against it and hope it works (sometimes it does, sometimes I have to pull out the card).

Well, if I was doing security at your company, I'd probably want employee credentials to be visible at all times, which would also happen to take care of your problem.

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#43
I think I've become jaded because I just don't believe it. It's like Google Home. A wonderful device but when I heard it may start listening to everything I say... I just figured yeah, that should be expected. So now I just expect Google to read, listen, and analyze everything I do with their products.

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, you can buy some paint that blocks all RF signals. It's absurdly expensive but quite effective. There aren't many ways to get signals out of a room painted with the stuff. If you're thinking "Why not just build a faraday cage?" then you're thinking the right thing.

I've thought about turning my whole house into a faraday cage way too many times to be considered sane still.

Ermmm we used the copper nanotube paint once on an office and, well, it sucked. Bad. Cell phones only worked in this small corner of the office, and wifi was chaotic. Something about signals can't get in, but they also can't get out, so they collide ...

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My educated guess would be that given the proliferation of services offered by Google, it indeed has many more sources of information on each individual, and having email as one of them perhaps proves less beneficial today as it did when Gmail was first introduced. Now there is the Android OS which gives information about apps you use, locations, activities, and online searches, map queries, bookmarks, sentiments via…

The article explains it plainly: they weren't getting the message to business people that Gmail on Google Apps isn't scanned despite free Gmail being, so they stopped scanning Gmail altogether.

Didn't they also get caught a couple of times scanning the email despite saying they weren't? I know there was a lawsuit alleging that they scanned the email of many university students after saying they wouldn't [0], which I think was settled for high 3 or low 4 figures per person, although I'm not sure (and wasn't a participant).

[0] http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/3/23/alumni-lawsuit-a...

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#48
post #33

I never understood the argument that some automatic scanning for keywords is like "reading" your mail. By that same logic isn't Gmail's spam filter still "reading" your mail? It is classifying your mail based on content after all...

It's like my accountant reading my receipts to create my tax return versus a sleazy salesman sneaking a peek at them to find new ways to sell me stuff.
Post reply on HN