Is Google Reading Your Email? - Comments Page 1

If they are, I hope they're as bored by it as I am.

I'm fairly certain that Google doesn't read anyone's email. If you number is correct that Google processes billions of mail per day, while I appreciate that a machine can do that, it still requires a human to read "flagged" emails. I think the volume is too large. Remember also that your Inbox is one file, each individual email is part of that file, and as it grows, they have to scan the entire file. Your email reader software has to separate the individual mails. Sure they can capture that where ever the MX record take is through their gateways, it still a large task. Even earlier, former NSA analysts said that is information overload and it was impossible to carefully analyze each one.

google is big brother!!!

Why would anyone hold any expectation of privacy when using email? Email messages are usually not encrypted (unless the user takes extra steps to make it so), and are often sent as plain text!
If you want a secure and private form of communication, find some other way to communicate - email is not it! If you are a reporter, and you do not want your story read from email, you and your publisher should add story submitting functionality to the publisher's servers so your story is secured, and not being sent over the Internet as plain text email!

I'd take a raincheck on the hammock offer, Mr. Rankin. Instead of Kill Bill, I'd like to bring your attention to the "Kevin Bacon Number" factor: Just because someone may have given permission for sifting thru their own emails (= the pathetic "I have nothing to hide" syndrome), I become an innocent victim if (IF) I correspond with your via your google email account, as well!
One more minor note: I used to urge all those gmail account holders to retain the Subject line and conversation thread in their replies but now I urge them to remove the historical threads to minimize the Bacon#correlation.

I would like to think that my life is so exciting and another's is so boring that my emails would be read. Most of the stuff in my inbox (yours being one of the rare exceptions, Bob) is junk. This concept worked for reality TV, so it just might get a foothold in emails. And efemails. Have I given anyone the impression that I care about this issue? Please forgive me. Does artificial stupidity come from human stupidity? (I should have gone back to work today instead of having an extended holiday in the middle of the week.)

I think you have valid points but so does WSJ. Some people are silly enough to send personally identifiable information IN an email. People have user names and or passwords to other accounts sent via email. I myself would see a difference between an app and a person reading emails. I would expect that an app would be designed to forget what it read after it had read and gleaned needed info from it. A person reading emails won't forget it nor would I expect ALL people to use the same judgment regarding what they read. I can imagine there are differences between people of different ages reading emails. A teenager reading something they considered funny might not have the years and experience necessary to know they can't quote from a private email even if they don't know the person who sent or received it. But the sender or receiver might be able to identify their words posted online somewhere. Even genders could react differently to something in an email. Who knows how an incensed person might react? I think WSJ was right to point out the flaw in our thinking. But I also agree with you that the media too often plays our emotions. Unfortunately, that's what drives people to their sites and that's how they stay in business (or don't).

I have never trusted Google or Microsoft. But it should be no surprise that Google reads e-mail. And I would expect the same from any free e-mail provider. Another perspective on the WSJ article can be found here (https://protonmail.com/blog/google-privacy-problem/)

Most of the people reading this probably already are aware of how to keep things private. I, for one, routinely turn off the default settings in Windows, apps, Google or anything else that asks "Allow this to access...?". Unless absolutely vital to how the program functions.
As to e-mail, I follow a rule that goes along the line that nothing gets put in that may cause problems down the line, personal or business. So, if some researcher or other entity sees it, I don"t care. There are other means of communication.

I was under the impression that Gmail messages are encrypted between sender and receiver. Is this incorrect?

I wish they'd read my mail, star the important ones. and delete the rest

Thanks for shining a little light on the real facts regarding this issue. The WSJ sensational expose even made it to mainstream news in my country, which is a very long way from the USA. The information you have provided was obviously too boring to be included.
So thanks for the boring stuff Bob.

I guess no one here has knowledge of traffic analysis. Modern computers can do very well at getting useful information from extremely large amounts of data. This was a part, and a less well known, invention of Gordan Welshman and others at Bletchley Park, c. 1941-2. It continues to be a massive part of what's done at GCHQ. It's now known as metadata analysis.

I know they do because that's how they sync up my Google Calendar. It's nice not having to enter in my flight info onto the calendar for my upcoming Southwest Flights. "Free" seems to always come with a price...

To explore the sequence of events that might take place with some machine reading anonymized emails.

Let's say I email someone about the "Kill Bill" movie. That email gets stripped of the routing information -- but gets read, and flagged, by some process. The alarms go off -- and it gets reported to the powers-in-charge. They run off to some judge and get a warrant to read all my emails.

No big problem to match the body of my email with all the ones spinning on disks, until they find the one I sent. Now that one, thru the routing info, does identify me, and then every email I've sent is turned over to the authorities.

But, I use Gmail because I have had experiences in the past with my ISP, with their mail servers, reading and silently dumping emails I sent when they thought there was something bad in them.

I'm just going to throw out some numbers based on your rant. Since I may get 50 e-mails a day, mostly junk, a few might reveal that my cousins and I are having a family reunion. What are the mathematical chances that someone would read mine (all 50) or luck out on the meaty ONE about where we will stay? I cannot imagine that there is a line of employees somewhere saying to the others, "Hey, you've got to hear this e-mail. They're going to eat at the Black Pelican!" On the other hand, it might be serious information, but that could be hacked anyway. Where's my outrage at Google and those other snoops? I think I lost my feelings of privacy when my mailbox was pilfered in front of my house.

The developers needed real emails?
Rubbish.
They can send their own email messages.
They do not need to use other people's messages.
Something smells here.

I am OUTRAGED!!!
that people can be bothered being outraged by this.

Have a good day Bob

PS please note I used Three(3) exclamation marks!

I AGREE WITH FRED, LET THE $%#3@$#9((5's write e-mails to each other to read?????????????????
LOL!!!!!!!!

Let 'em read my emails. Besides being horribly bored, once in a while I pass along great jokes and such that would liven up their day. If I really thought they were scrutinizing my writings, then I will oblige them with stuff to make their heads spin....

I don't like or trust Google but this seems almost pure paranoia.