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Where does Google actually say that they won’t read Gmail or Google Docs?

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Re: Where does Google actually say that they won’t read Gmail or Google Docs?

#31

Post by sixtofour »

From the comments:

> here’s a strange little story that happened to me a while ago – I set up a gmail account to deal with nigerian letters and such (I wanted to collect some data to report the spammers/thieves, without compromising my actual e-mail address in the process). I set this up with a fake username (something like george.thompson or so) and a password which included the word “nigeria” in it. Lo and behold, after my first login (before sending/receiving any mail) the targeted advertising in gmail included some nigerian ads (nigerian holidays, nigerian business bureau, etc). coincidence?….

If true, it seems they matched ads to the guy's password. Which means they needed to be able to read it plain text. The plain text should only ever live long enough to create or match with a hash.

Re: Where does Google actually say that they won’t read Gmail or Google Docs?

#32

Post by freshhawk »

angdis wrote: post #24

The real question is not whether google, dropbox or anyone else has explicit "policies" about reading content from users. They're just going to say whatever makes them look good from a marketing and legal perspective. Companies lie all the time, systematically and comprehensively. They act in their own self-interest period. From their point of view it is merely a question of how much they can get away with. The more…

Until there is something in it for them.

It's a pretty classic security question, sometimes usability means that you accept zero security and completely share your private correspondence with the world.

I think trust is the wrong word, you are really just accepting the risk of sharing all your data for the benefits because the risk is low.

Re: Where does Google actually say that they won’t read Gmail or Google Docs?

#34

Post by julian37 »

bad_user wrote: post #25

The question is wrong. Any email provider will read your email, at least for spam detection. The question should be - does Google keep a profile on you based on the content of your emails? I'm pretty sure they are able to serve ads without keeping a profile, making the decision solely on the content of the email being read. However, that may not be the case.

The question is wrong. Any email provider will read your email, at least for spam detection.

He's clearly talking about humans reading your mail. No email provider has humans reading your mail for purposes of spam detection, at least not in the usual case.

The question is perfectly valid: seeing that other companies have clear policies on the extent to which employees can access your data, how come Google doesn't have any such policies?

Re: Where does Google actually say that they won’t read Gmail or Google Docs?

#36

Post by curiouskat »

bad_user wrote: post #21
nostrademons wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I am neither a Facebook employee nor can I speak for them.) I really think that was just coincidence. Considering how many people talk about startups over Facebook messages and how many people have been contacted by Facebook recruiters, there's bound to be at least one person who was contacted by a Facebook recruiter a day or two after talking about startups. It'll seem mighty suspicious to that person, and they'll…

The thing people don't realize is that when contacted by a big company for a job, usually it's a bot that just sent hundreds of emails. Receiving an email from Google or Facebook is nothing special.

What data sources does Facebook use to trigger the email?

And are emails manually approved before they go out? If so, does that mean a Facebook employee looks at the data source that triggered email, which in some cases may be the user's private messages?

Re: Where does Google actually say that they won’t read Gmail or Google Docs?

#37

Post by rjd »

kenjackson wrote: post #30
rjd wrote: post #22

The same can be said about any IT department. One of my friends sent made the news papers over sending a racially shared joke through the email system to the "boys joke list" in a rather large and respected company. Turns out some people in the IT department where also helping themselves to the list as a source of entertainment, one of them took extreme offense to the joke and reported it. After the thing went throug…

For an IT department the expectation is that people will read your email. I honestly don't think what you describe is rare at all, based on stories I've heard. And if you work for the gov't your email can often be requested by citizens via FOIA.

I was working for a government agency in New Zealand when they introduced a law that meant every email became a government communication and you couldn't delete anything. I usually operate on an empty inbox principal, it was a total nightmare for me. I folded that contract as soon as my term was up.

Re: Where does Google actually say that they won’t read Gmail or Google Docs?

#38

Post by angdis »

freshhawk wrote: post #32
angdis wrote: post #24

The real question is not whether google, dropbox or anyone else has explicit "policies" about reading content from users. They're just going to say whatever makes them look good from a marketing and legal perspective. Companies lie all the time, systematically and comprehensively. They act in their own self-interest period. From their point of view it is merely a question of how much they can get away with. The more…

Until there is something in it for them. It's a pretty classic security question, sometimes usability means that you accept zero security and completely share your private correspondence with the world. I think trust is the wrong word, you are really just accepting the risk of sharing all your data for the benefits because the risk is low.

Yes, I agree "trust" is the wrong word. It is perhaps better to think of it as a trade-off of some risk for some convenience and that's OK.

In any case, back to the OP's question, the stated "policy" about privacy means virtually nothing unless there exists a third party who can effectively verify that policy.

Re: Where does Google actually say that they won’t read Gmail or Google Docs?

#39

Post by wahnfrieden »

sixtofour wrote: post #31

From the comments: > here’s a strange little story that happened to me a while ago – I set up a gmail account to deal with nigerian letters and such (I wanted to collect some data to report the spammers/thieves, without compromising my actual e-mail address in the process). I set this up with a fake username (something like george.thompson or so) and a password which included the word “nigeria” in it. Lo and behold,…

Don't be too quick to judge - maybe he had been searching for Nigerian related things before creating the account.

Re: Where does Google actually say that they won’t read Gmail or Google Docs?

#40

Post by ap22213 »

sixtofour wrote: post #31

From the comments: > here’s a strange little story that happened to me a while ago – I set up a gmail account to deal with nigerian letters and such (I wanted to collect some data to report the spammers/thieves, without compromising my actual e-mail address in the process). I set this up with a fake username (something like george.thompson or so) and a password which included the word “nigeria” in it. Lo and behold,…

I think the experiment would only be illustrative if the computer had zero past Internet use (ie no cookies) and the ip address was brand new. Surely google tracks even if you don't have an account.
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