Gmail confidential mode

#1

Post by brajesh » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 7:51 AM UTC

Gmail confidential mode
gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#2

Post by ktpsns » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 8:14 AM UTC

> 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!

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#3

Post by miki123211 » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 8:22 AM UTC

Will this be a lock in feature that makes it harder for people using external mail clients?

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#4

Post by saagarjha » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 8:29 AM UTC

> Recipients who have malicious programs on their computer may still be able to copy or download your messages or attachments.

“Malicious programs” such as any standards-complaint email software?

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#5

Post by halayli » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 8:30 AM 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!

> Note: Although confidential mode helps prevent the recipients from accidentally sharing your email, it doesn't prevent recipients from taking screenshots or photos of your messages or attachments. Recipients who have malicious programs on their computer may still be able to copy or download your messages or attachments.

it's not a security feature. it's to help prevent users shooting themselves in the foot.

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#6

Post by brajesh » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 8:31 AM UTC

miki123211 wrote: post #3

Will this be a lock in feature that makes it harder for people using external mail clients?

Won't it simply fallback to regular email view on external clients, like outlook's "recall email" function?

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#7

Post by samuelfekete » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 8:31 AM UTC

I would like to see Gmail offer end-to-end encryption for "confidential" emails.

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#8

Post by Simon_says » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 8:33 AM UTC

They're about two weeks early for April Fools.

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#9

Post by Zarel » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 8:38 AM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #4

> Recipients who have malicious programs on their computer may still be able to copy or download your messages or attachments. “Malicious programs” such as any standards-complaint email software?

If I were implementing something like this, it would just be a link to an auto-expiring viewer page, if you opened the email in a third-party email client.

And according to Google, that's exactly how it's implemented:

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7674059

"Malicious programs" here most likely refers to things like keyloggers.

Re: Gmail confidential mode

#10

Post by a012 » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 8:46 AM UTC

halayli wrote: post #5

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!

> Note: Although confidential mode helps prevent the recipients from accidentally sharing your email, it doesn't prevent recipients from taking screenshots or photos of your messages or attachments. Recipients who have malicious programs on their computer may still be able to copy or download your messages or attachments. it's not a security feature. it's to help prevent users shooting themselves in the foot.

Can you explain how "removing options for recipients to forward, copy, print, and download" could "help prevent users shooting themselves in the foot"?