Gmail Users Can't Legitimately Expect Privacy

[Locutus]

Silly rabbit

Google doesn't believe that people can reasonably expect their emails to stay private.

At least, that's what the internet giant articulated in a brief that was filed last month in federal court and recently surfaced by Consumer Watchdog. The document was written in response to a class-action lawsuit accusing Google of violating wiretap law when it scans emails to serve up targeted ads.

Plantiffs accuse Google of violating the privacy of its users by mining their personal messages for information that it uses to inform which targeted ads it displays. The suit calls for Google to fully disclose exactly what information it's taking from emails, and to pay damages for these alleged violations of privacy. (You can read a redacted version of the complaint here).

The company argued in its motion to dismiss the lawsuit that "all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing." (You can read the full motion here).

Google asserts that, in principle, if you entrust your personal messages to a third party, you can't expect that the third party won't touch any of that information:


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Google: Gmail Users Can't Legitimately Expect Privacy

 

[tay]

I'm thinking 99% of google users think/thought the reverse.........

Google asserts that, in principle, if you entrust your personal messages to a third party, you can't expect that the third party won't touch any of that information:

 

[SLM]

And we're what? Surprised by this? Lol.

Any company that has a motto (whether formal or informal) of "Don't be Evil", you pretty much have to know that they are, in fact, evil. Non-evil entities do not have to remind themselves not to be evil. Just saying.

 

[Tonington]

Read it again. Google said that if any of you happen to be a non-Gmail user, and send an email to my Gmail account, then the third party doctrine from Smith v. Maryland applies. You have to expect that if you send an email to someone using a different email client than that you use, that whatever client they are using, is going to process the emails. That is what Google's Gmail servers are doing.

If you're a Gmail user like I am, then I'm covered by Google's privacy policy in the Terms of Service Agreement. But if I send one to a Yahoo account, I can't very well expect that the message won't be processed by Yahoo...