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Is Google overreaching by forcing me to use TLS?

security.stackexchange.com

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Re: Is Google overreaching by forcing me to use TLS?

#3

Post by kapitalx »

sarreph wrote: post #2

A comment on the answer perfectly encapsulates this post: Did you just troll security.SE and then reasonably answer your own question? – Stephen Touset

If you continue on reading you'll find OPs comment below it:

"@StephenTouset -- indeed. That's actually a feature; see Its OK to Ask and Answer Your Own Questions. As [it was] pointed out, the question was prompted by the computerworld article [1]."

[1] - http://blogs.computerworld.com/privacy/23698/google-customer...

Re: Is Google overreaching by forcing me to use TLS?

#4

Post by octo_t »

sarreph wrote: post #2

A comment on the answer perfectly encapsulates this post: Did you just troll security.SE and then reasonably answer your own question? – Stephen Touset

I like that SO lets you answer your own questions, it makes good references for other people to link to. (And if you saw the background from this[1] blog post it makes sense to have made it).

[1] - http://blogs.computerworld.com/privacy/23698/google-customer...

Re: Is Google overreaching by forcing me to use TLS?

#5

Post by finch_ »

I agree with the overall point of the responses that Google isn't in fact evil to be doing this, but I want to disagree somewhat with one point - the idea that Google doesn't have any obligation to respect users wishes just because its a free service that no one is forcing you to use.

The problem with this is that Google's very existence makes it harder for similar services to exist. There are a few reasons for this, including:

1. Google benefits from economies of scale

2. Google benefits from having massive amounts of data to crunch through (for example, its hard to build a span filter as good as Gmail's without a training dataset as big as Gmail's)

Its kind of like the argument for the minimum wage - conservatives would say its not needed because you can just choose not to work for a company that isn't offering enough money, but sometimes you don't really have an alternative.

Re: Is Google overreaching by forcing me to use TLS?

#7

Post by dublinben »

finch_ wrote: post #5

I agree with the overall point of the responses that Google isn't in fact evil to be doing this, but I want to disagree somewhat with one point - the idea that Google doesn't have any obligation to respect users wishes just because its a free service that no one is forcing you to use. The problem with this is that Google's very existence makes it harder for similar services to exist. There are a few reasons for this,…

The argument has been made that Google's free products and services are anticompetitive dumping which makes it harder for a competing service to survive.

Re: Is Google overreaching by forcing me to use TLS?

#8

Post by afhsfsfdsss88 »

Google and others[Telecoms] are in positions to collect rents on your PI from third parties and G.O.'s. When they[Google] recently learned that the NSA had tapped their unencrypted fiber lines between data centers, they were pissed.

Not because they give a fraction of a shit about you, but because the NSA was stealing their product.

Now they encrypt everything with [very strong] SSL to force everyone to ask/pay for their info.

Re: Is Google overreaching by forcing me to use TLS?

#9

Post by hdevalence »

skywhopper wrote: post #6

I suppose it's nice to have the rationale written out somewhere, but does anyone anywhere actually balk at being required to use HTTPS?

http://blogs.computerworld.com/privacy/23698/google-customer...

"Since when is removing consumer choice a good thing? Does Google really know better than you do what your security posture should be for your Gmail accounts?"

Yeah, what do those Google security engineers know, anyways?

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