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Google: Gmail users shouldn't expect email privacy

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wraith808:
Presented without comment



Google: Gmail users shouldn't expect email privacy (Via the Guardian)

Gmail users have no "reasonable expectation" that their emails are confidential, Google has said in a court filing.

Consumer Watchdog, the advocacy group that uncovered the filing, called the revelation a "stunning admission." It comes as Google and its peers are under pressure to explain their role in the National Security Agency's (NSA) mass surveillance of US citizens and foreign nationals.

"Google has finally admitted they don't respect privacy," said John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's privacy project director. "People should take them at their word; if you care about your email correspondents' privacy, don't use Gmail."

Google set out its case last month in an attempt to dismiss a class action lawsuit that accuses the tech giant of breaking wire tap laws when it scans emails in order to target ads to Gmail users.

That suit, filed in May, claims Google "unlawfully opens up, reads, and acquires the content of people's private email messages." It quotes Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman: "Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it."

"Unbeknown to millions of people, on a daily basis and for years, Google has systematically and intentionally crossed the 'creepy line' to read private email messages containing information you don't want anyone to know, and to acquire, collect, or mine valuable information from that mail," the suit claims.

In its motion to dismiss the case, Google said the plaintiffs were making "an attempt to criminalize ordinary business practices" that have been part of Gmail's service since its introduction. Google said "all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing."

--- End quote ---

More at link.

Court filing


Ok, I lied... one comment.

:wallbash:

TaoPhoenix:

Okay, I'll comment!

This is posted here for the most relevance, but I wonder if it has any kind of tangential edge correlation to the Snowden Affair.

Abbreviated From Slashdot:
"For most businesses, data analytics presents an opportunity. But for DARPA, the military agency responsible for developing new technology, so-called 'Big Data' could represent a big threat....

As Foreign Policy points out, there's a certain amount of irony in the government soliciting ways to reduce its vulnerability to data exploitation. 'At the time government officials are assuring Americans they have nothing to fear from the National Security Agency poring through their personal records,' the publication wrote, 'the military is worried that Russia or al Qaeda is going to wreak nationwide havoc after combing through people's personal records.'"

So isn't THAT a complicated new development? The "easy depressing view" is that Corps & Govts are in semi-agreement, maybe with bumps on precise edge cases, but generally happy to work together to create a nice totalitarian prison with soothing muted colors backed by political court judgements & stuff.

But what happens if you begin to get them both nipping at each others' heels, with Govt saying the Biz dataset is a security risk and Biz saying that new Govt rules are an economic risk?

I'm just a poor lil' humanities type - figuring out how *that* plays out (beyond a mere truce agreement), is beyond me!

Now also from Slashdot, "A group of researchers from MIT and the University of Ireland has presented a paper (PDF) showing that one of the most important assumptions behind cryptographic security is wrong. As a result, certain encryption-breaking methods will work better than previously thought. "

So what if we get a thermonuclear data explosion where *everyone's data* becomes available all at once, with none of this peaceful filtering? You know, someone willing to risk instant death for treason busts all of data collection wide open, Johnny Mnemonic style?

Speculation is now open, drinks half price!
:Thmbsup:

Renegade:
The "easy depressing view" is that Corps & Govts are in semi-agreement, maybe with bumps on precise edge cases, but generally happy to work together to create a nice totalitarian prison with soothing muted colors backed by political court judgements & stuff.
-TaoPhoenix (August 14, 2013, 02:06 PM)
--- End quote ---

Welcome to Prison Planet Earth! ;D

But shouldn't Google and pretty much every other company like it, i.e. criminal collaborators with the criminals in government,  be sued/charged for false/deceptive advertising?

Really.

Like, look at this:



And this:

Google: Gmail users shouldn't expect email privacy

Isn't "Privacy Policy" at best misleading?

Wouldn't "Surveillance Policy" be far more accurate?

Or perhaps "Surveillance & Data Mining Policy"?

I for one would certainly feel better if it were illegal to be dishonest about criminal activity. :P

wraith808:
As I posted the original, I have to post the correction link also:

Yes, Gmail users have an expectation of privacy

So, though I know that the day that Google is proven to be evil will come... but that day is not today.

Tinman57:
Wraith beat me to this story.   :o  It's also here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2046636/gmails-users-cant-expect-privacy-furor-much-ado-about-nothing-new.html  where there's a different take on it.

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