Gmail confidential mode • Hacker News Board

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#91

Post by nukeop » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 1:45 PM UTC

josteink wrote: post #75

nukeop wrote: post #40

They're cocky enough now to think that they can take on the e-mail as a de facto standard and do the Embrace, Extend, Extinguish dance with it. This is akin to DRM and just like DRM it will be ineffective - if I can see it, I can forward it, copy it, and print it, and do whatever I want with it. Users are being led to believe that they can enforce these sorts of controls over email but they can't.

Google loves DRM though. They helped launch WebDRM. Now we have EmailDRM, with a Google-account being mandatory for all recipients. What’s the next standard Google plan on ruining?

I think they've got their eyes on tcp and http now.

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#92

Post by kzzzznot » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 1:45 PM UTC

Spivak wrote: post #82

drglitch wrote: post #72

I feel that many of these pseudo-secure, proprietary enhancements to email create a false sense of security for non-tech-savvy users. Given the smoke-and-mirrors presentation of this as a way to "secure your email^tm" and the plethora of recent info leaks, i am sure some poor c-level exec will get caught inadvertently sharing something with an external recipient thinking that it will disappear in a few days, but then…

This feature isn't about security. Email is already pretty secure with TLS and DKIM. This is basically the equivalent of the "DO NO FORWARD" header people use for internal-only information but with a little more UX polish.

I think what the parent is saying is that they feel this DO NOT FORWARD header feature is being presented as a security feature. I probably agree

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#93

Post by xivzgrev » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 1:47 PM UTC

What happens if you send an email to a non gmail address? I assume this mode has no effect.

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#94

Post by rocqua » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 1:49 PM UTC

xivzgrev wrote: post #93

What happens if you send an email to a non gmail address? I assume this mode has no effect.

I believe your message is put behind a link which, after the message expires, no longer directs you to the contents of your email.

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#95

Post by shereadsthenews » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 1:58 PM UTC

drglitch wrote: post #72

I feel that many of these pseudo-secure, proprietary enhancements to email create a false sense of security for non-tech-savvy users. Given the smoke-and-mirrors presentation of this as a way to "secure your email^tm" and the plethora of recent info leaks, i am sure some poor c-level exec will get caught inadvertently sharing something with an external recipient thinking that it will disappear in a few days, but then…

IT admins just want what they want and you can't change their minds. Eventually gsuite will sprout every dumb feature all of its competitors and predecessors ever offered.

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#96

Post by glennpratt » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 2:00 PM UTC

prepend wrote: post #55

newsbinator wrote: post #12

I love the concept as a sender, I hate the concept as a receiver. It means a ton more mental overhead: "do I need to jot down the info from this email somewhere (manually?) now because at some point it's going to expire or my access is going to be revoked?". Frustrating. It's the opposite of all the benefits of gMail search.

This will result in one of two things from me: 1) auto forward everything to a non-gmail archive account 2) if blocked, finally leave gmail

This is a Gsuite admin feature, leaving personal Gmail does nothing and if you happen to control your Gsuite account... just don't turn it on.

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#97

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 2:01 PM UTC

somebehemoth wrote: post #83

Klathmon wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assumed it was in the context of advertising. You literally can't have an email service that doesn't process your emails somehow. Spam filtering and phishing protection has to work on the content of the email, the act of sending email needs to read parts of it to send it. At the absolute least they need to "read" your email to store it's contents and send/display them. If that is something you want to prevent, then…

The OP mentioned Google reading their email and does not mention the context of advertising you assumed. Another poster pointed out that Google no longer scans Gmail for advertising purposes anyways: https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/google-gmail-ads-email... . I understand what you are saying about all email getting "processed" however, Google is doing way more to process email than spam protection or else they…

[deleted]

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#98

Post by anticensor » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 2:03 PM UTC

kzzzznot wrote: post #92

Spivak wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This feature isn't about security. Email is already pretty secure with TLS and DKIM. This is basically the equivalent of the "DO NO FORWARD" header people use for internal-only information but with a little more UX polish.

I think what the parent is saying is that they feel this DO NOT FORWARD header feature is being presented as a security feature. I probably agree

This is an algorithmically enforced one, though.

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#99

Post by nova22033 » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 2:05 PM UTC

ktpsns wrote: post #2

> removing options for recipients to forward, copy, print, and download Oh please... Everybody can do a screenshot nowadays, and even Google itself integrated OCR into its Screenshot tool at Android a few years ago. What a waste of time to make the life of people harder who must use this "security" feature!

https://gawker.com/the-best-times-reporters-were-accidentall...

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#100

Post by 908087 » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 2:06 PM UTC

numbsafari wrote: post #86

drglitch wrote: post #72

I feel that many of these pseudo-secure, proprietary enhancements to email create a false sense of security for non-tech-savvy users. Given the smoke-and-mirrors presentation of this as a way to "secure your email^tm" and the plethora of recent info leaks, i am sure some poor c-level exec will get caught inadvertently sharing something with an external recipient thinking that it will disappear in a few days, but then…

How long before someone makes a chrome browser plugin that will automatically screenshot and download any message flagged in this manner? Completely agree with your last sentiment. We all assume that "kids these days" grow up well aware of these things, but my experience to date has been that new hires are disturbingly unaware of these things.

The "kids are tech savvy these days" narrative seems pretty ridiculous once you consider the fact that most of them have never so much as manually installed a piece of software that didn't involve an "app store" on a touchscreen device.