On Sat, 2009-10-31 at 12:15 -0400, Loui Chang wrote: > On Sat 31 Oct 2009 16:40 +0100, bardo wrote: > > 2009/10/31 Heiko Baums <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>: > > > And with Google!? I don't understand how one can be interested in > > > letting Google read and use his/her personal e-mails, documents etc. > > > > I'm very careful about my privacy. My google account doesn't usually > > host private/work e-mails, for those ones I have an account with > > someone who cares about my privacy (an Italian project, > > autistici.org). Mails I'm sending from this address are going to > > become public anyway, so I care more about other features. > > > > > Have you read their terms of use? And do you know what Google does with > > > your e-mails, documents and other data? Google reads, scans and > > > evaluates e.g. every e-mail which is sent to or from a Gmail account > > > and every document which is edited by Google Docs. > > > > I read their terms of use. I'm more aware of the problem than you > > think, and in fact I'm active in a privacy-related project. And if I > > *really* need to use gmail for a private message, I encrypt it with > > GPG. > > Also, I don't use google docs or similar apps. > > > > > The only thing from Google I'm using is their search engine and this > > > only without cookies. I won't give Google my personal communication or > > > documents. And I'm thinking about not sending e-mails to Gmail > > > addresses anymore. > > > > It should also be noted that, if someone writes you from a gmail > > address, their communication to you gets logged. This means that > > there's no way to keep google (or $otherprovider) out of your > > business. Also, people don't care, because it is in *their* freedom to > > choose whatever service they prefer. And this is a good thing, even > > though their choice involves *your* privacy. I suppose that, with a > > real lot of time, money and good lawyers, you could force google to > > not "read" e-mails because their customers agreed to their ToS, but > > not the people they communicate to. > > > > In conclusion, even though I sympathize with your views, I think your > > battle is lost because it's flawed in its basis. If you don't like how > > e-mail works, well, there are internationally recognized standards for > > it, nothing you can do about it. Just change for a different service > > which is based on technology that doesn't allow the provider to read > > user's data. After all, there are technologies that allow us to log > > into services without them or anybody knowing our passwords, why not > > making it mandatory for contents? We just need a new protocol. And a > > good reason for users to make the switch, since as we know people are > > lazy. > > Keeping emails away from google isn't even a half-measure towards > privacy. If you're actually concerned about people accessing your > private information, you'll encrypt all your data and transmissions. Or you'd hand-carry your communications. And only talk to your friends behind closed doors after scanning for bugs (not the software kind).
