Is Google reading my email?

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Clearly reading by humans is impossible given the volume . . . .

Just because they couldn't read all doesn't mean someone couldn't snoop during their lunch break. There also could be a test bed with real messages that are checked as part of software development.

I do not believe Google does this. They are just too competent. But in the history of email, I'm sure it has happenned, and it might still happen with smaller providers.

Especially in a business context, I try to go by the principle of not putting anything in email I wouldn't want to see in the New York Times. But it's a hard (because inconvenient) standard to live up to.

[glebarc]

You are being tracked and tracked and tracked. Your Google searches, your phone gps, and much, much more help those tracker types to know you better than you know yourself. It's not just for ads. It's really beyond belief how crazy this has gotten. Cameras on laptops and devices like Kinect can easily be turned on remotely without you knowing it. It's all about how interested they are in you. David Petraeus actually said that your dishwasher will be watching (not washing) you soon. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012...eus-tv-remote/ . The world we grew up in is long gone. Heck, they were matchng ads to email content back in 1648.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by glebarc

David Petraeus actually said that your dishwasher will be watching (not washing) you soon.

I can appreciate he might have been worried about being watched.

The world we grew up in is long gone.

In the US, at least, the Post Office has a policy of not opening your first class mail. So your choices are to pay 46 cents (or equivalent in your country) for a stamp, or to pay in another manner.

The world you grew up in is still here. Not everyone has a computer.

I like the deal where I can trade Google algorithms tracking me in return for otherwise free services. If you don't like it, fine, don't partake.

In the world I grew up in, a government official AKA librarian looked at every book I took out of the building. Those officials often asked citizens what they liked to read and, then, after listening, advised of other books to read. Gives one the willies, doesn't it

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

I like the deal where I can trade Google algorithms tracking me in return for otherwise free services. If you don't like it, fine, don't partake.

It is possible to avoid using Google Search, GMail, and their many other services. On the other hand, other people will use Google's services in a way that allows Google to track you. Their advertising services, various APIs (analytics, maps, etc.), and even a friend with a GMail account are examples. Now my copious hosts file entries allows me to avoid some of that stuff. I do pay the price since various websites are broken, but it is a price that I'm willing to pay for a bit more privacy.

However, avoiding it altogether would be a self-imposed form of social exclusion.