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Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

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Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#181

Post by bthrn »

samblr wrote: post #177
vaishaksuresh wrote: post #173

I very recently switched to fastmail and couldn't be happier. For $90 a year, I don't have to deal with people snooping and tracking me around for ads. I know google is trying to give me value with all their facial recognition and recommendations, but I don't think it is going to end well. When it does end badly, it will be too late for the user because we would've given up all the data. I don't want Google to build…

how are you sure that fastmail is secure and they aren't using ur data to build models ? because there is an annual subscription or they advertise it so ?

They advertise it as such.

From their privacy policy:

"Incoming messages are scanned for the purpose of spam detection unless you disable spam protection for your account... To make message searching fast, we build an index of your messages (this is a table, just like you would find at the back of a reference book, in which you can look up a word to quickly find the emails in which it appears).

No information from any of these activities is used for any other purpose, or to compile any kind of profile on our users."

https://www.fastmail.com/about/privacy.html

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#182

Post by itiman »

itiman wrote: post #176

The fact of reading emails for ads is disputable even if it's used for a new purpose, YT.

HAL: Ads will continue to appear inside the free version of Gmail, as promoted messages. But instead of scanning a user’s email, the ads will now be targeted with other personal information Google already pulls from sources such as search and YouTube.

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#183

Post by eatbitseveryday »

fav_collector wrote: post #100
eatbitseveryday wrote: post #16

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…

> Now there is the Android OS Does the actual OS track you or is it individual apps?

The "Web & App Activity" in http://myaccount.google.com states the following:

> Google can save information like:

> - Websites and apps you use

> - Your activity on websites and in apps that use Google services

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#184

Post by [deleted] »

samblr wrote: post #177
vaishaksuresh wrote: post #173

I very recently switched to fastmail and couldn't be happier. For $90 a year, I don't have to deal with people snooping and tracking me around for ads. I know google is trying to give me value with all their facial recognition and recommendations, but I don't think it is going to end well. When it does end badly, it will be too late for the user because we would've given up all the data. I don't want Google to build…

how are you sure that fastmail is secure and they aren't using ur data to build models ? because there is an annual subscription or they advertise it so ?

[deleted]

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#185

Post by ksk »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #155
ksk wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the automated nature of the permanent data collection change anything? How about an automated drone with a camera mounted on it that follows you everywhere and records every action, indefinitely, purely automated ofcource, so that an advertising company can helpfully remind you about the awesome great $6 lunch menu when you walk past McBurger at lunchtime, or about picking up some hemorrhoids cream from MediCo b…

Depends. Is that drone providing me with some other useful service, or is it following me around entirely without my knowledge or consent? Gmail provides me with a free email service. They already have the full text of all my emails. If they want to use that data to help decide what ads to serve me, I have no problem with that so long as that data isn't shared with anyone else without my consent.

But your profile is not just linked with Gmail. Its across Google, including any future products. Its a kind of cross-product tying using customer data (which gives them an easy leg-up on new ad-subsidized products) that I would assume attracts anti-trust scrutiny.

I think its fair for you to accept the terms, if you know what you're getting in return. The problem here is that you will never know exactly what information is stored about you, and how personal it is, and you have zero control over it. Also simply by sending YOU an email, I'm also entangled in the data collection scheme.

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#186

Post by bostik »

jpeg_hero wrote: post #144
isomorphic wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> offering you goods and services you may be interested in The thing is: never, not even once, has Google offered me an ad with goods and services I was interested in.

ok, maybe Gmail ads have been irrelevant to you. but surely you've done a google search and been presented with interesting goods and services?!?!

Anecdata: in the past 5 years or so the number of relevant or interesting search ads Google has shown me can be counted with one hand.

- If I'm searching for technical documentation, I couldn't care less about all the random consultancies or shitty-SaaS-of-the-day trash that populate the ad slot(s).

- If I'm looking for technical details on a piece of malware or vulnerability research, the last thing I want to see on the page is a goddamn AV junkware full-frontal.

- If I'm searching for details on some car models ... why the fk is google shoving insurance ads on my screen real estate?

And so on. As far as I'm concerned, online advertising is a stripmined toxic dump. Only the shittiest swindlers and shadiest extortion artists remain.

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#187

Post by rocqua »

vaishaksuresh wrote: post #173

I very recently switched to fastmail and couldn't be happier. For $90 a year, I don't have to deal with people snooping and tracking me around for ads. I know google is trying to give me value with all their facial recognition and recommendations, but I don't think it is going to end well. When it does end badly, it will be too late for the user because we would've given up all the data. I don't want Google to build…

I still like gmail for its spam filter and notably "important mail" function. Outside of those, I'd switch to something self-hosted.

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#188

Post by bostik »

EGreg wrote: post #127
dingaling wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't understand why seeing an ad is so bad. So a sleazy salesman is more annoying because they are in your way. But if you're going to see ads anyway, I'd rather they be relevant!! Can soemone explain why given that there will be ads either way they actually prefer irrelevant ads?

> I'd rather they be relevant

Corollary: if you can't show a relevant ad, HOW ABOUT NOT SHOWING AN IRRELEVANT AT ALL?

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#189

Post by crazygringo »

alphonsegaston wrote: post #158
ma2rten wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the article it is.

Right, I read it. But it's still not actually clear to me whether they are ceasing ALL mining of email data for business accounts, or are just not funneling it to a specific set of ad programs. To me, at least, that seems an important point of clarification.

They're not ceasing it for business accounts, they've never done it for business accounts. The article is about free Gmail accounts.

If you look at the terms for G Suite (the paid business product), that is a top selling point. Businesses who pay for G Suite don't want Google using their data for anything, and Google complies.

Edit: in response to comment below, here are the main docs describing, including the Data Processing Amendment:

https://gsuite.google.com/learn-more/security/security-white...

https://support.google.com/googlecloud/answer/6056650?hl=en

https://gsuite.google.com/terms/dpa_terms.html

Re: Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads

#190

Post by jkaunisv1 »

StreamBright wrote: post #161
ams6110 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many options to pay for email, fastmail just for one. Do you use one of them?

And how exactly will I escape Google's data collection when Fastmail uses GA for analytics? ....script type="text/javascript" src="/static/scripts/ga.js....

Run a broad-spectrum blocker like uBlock Origin? Access your fastmail from an interface other than their web interface?
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