A question
Aug. 27th, 2004 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmagrant01What's the big deal about GMail? I keep seeing people on my f-list asking for and offering invites, and I have no idea why. When I first heard about the premise, and that Google would "read" the content of emails you send and receive to target advertising to you, etc., I thought, WTF? Why would anyone want to do that?
Clearly people did want to do it, since it quickly became the "it" new email address to have. I'm still skeptical, myself. I'll offer some interesting links, though. Some of these express views that are a bit paranoid, but are still intriguing:
GMail is too creepy
"If Google builds a database of keywords associated with email addresses, the potential for abuse is staggering. Google could grow a database that spits out the email addresses of those who used those keywords. How about words such as "box cutters" in the same email as "airline schedules"? Can you think of anyone who might be interested in obtaining a list of email addresses for that particular combination? Or how about "mp3" with "download"? Since the RIAA has sent subpoenas to Internet service providers and universities in an effort to identify copyright abusers, why should we expect Gmail to be off-limits?"
Things Google knows about you
"If you use a GMail account:
• Who you send emails to
• Who sends emails to you
• The contents of those emails
• The contents of all emails received from any mailing lists of which you are a member, even if they are private mailing lists."
Privacy subtleties of GMail
"Even so, people have a reaction to a 3rd party computer doing scans like this. If you were offered a service that saved you money by having your paper mail opened by robots for scanning, which then inserted new junk mail in your box based on what it found, you might get a bit creeped out. Go further and consider a service that gave you free phone calls if it could have speech-recognizing computers listen in and barge in with product offers related to your conversation? It's easy to imagine an unpleasant situation where you get invited to a gay wedding in Vancouver, and find with it in your mailbox brochures for gifts, Vancouver hotels and a free copy of Out magazine. People have extended that fear into the e-mail realm."
Clearly people did want to do it, since it quickly became the "it" new email address to have. I'm still skeptical, myself. I'll offer some interesting links, though. Some of these express views that are a bit paranoid, but are still intriguing:
GMail is too creepy
"If Google builds a database of keywords associated with email addresses, the potential for abuse is staggering. Google could grow a database that spits out the email addresses of those who used those keywords. How about words such as "box cutters" in the same email as "airline schedules"? Can you think of anyone who might be interested in obtaining a list of email addresses for that particular combination? Or how about "mp3" with "download"? Since the RIAA has sent subpoenas to Internet service providers and universities in an effort to identify copyright abusers, why should we expect Gmail to be off-limits?"
Things Google knows about you
"If you use a GMail account:
• Who you send emails to
• Who sends emails to you
• The contents of those emails
• The contents of all emails received from any mailing lists of which you are a member, even if they are private mailing lists."
Privacy subtleties of GMail
"Even so, people have a reaction to a 3rd party computer doing scans like this. If you were offered a service that saved you money by having your paper mail opened by robots for scanning, which then inserted new junk mail in your box based on what it found, you might get a bit creeped out. Go further and consider a service that gave you free phone calls if it could have speech-recognizing computers listen in and barge in with product offers related to your conversation? It's easy to imagine an unpleasant situation where you get invited to a gay wedding in Vancouver, and find with it in your mailbox brochures for gifts, Vancouver hotels and a free copy of Out magazine. People have extended that fear into the e-mail realm."
no subject
Date: 2004-08-27 02:39 pm (UTC)Which seems really spooky when you hear about it ("OMG COMPUTERZ R READING MY EMAIL") but when you see it in practice, it's patently obvious that no human eyes have seen what you're writing. Totally not spooky, or at least not any more spooky than any other kind of non-encrypted email; any hacker with a packet sniffer can get his hands on your email with a little bit of work if you're not using a firewall, for example.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-27 04:05 pm (UTC)Yeah. I'll... take your word for whatever that is.
Everyone has their preferences. Mine is for ad-free, spider-free, hassle-free e-mail, period. For the $25 fee I pay, I gain a 100MB web domain with plenty of bandwidth, my own use group, plus an unlimited number of 10MB mailboxes. In other words, no spidering, no ads of any kind whatsover in my webspace or e-mail, and all the e-mail space I could ever want. Hardly required a moment's decision from me. :)
any hacker with a packet sniffer can get his hands on your email with a little bit of work if you're not using a firewall, for example.
That would be an apples and oranges comparison. A firewall is a user's personal choice and responsibility, making spidering and hacking avoidable (or moreso). Gmail does not offer the user that choice, as you said, that's how they pay for their service.
If I were an RPer, I might be tempted to check it out if only for RP purposes, but alas, I stick with LARPing. :)
no subject
Date: 2004-08-28 06:34 am (UTC)Gmail does not offer the user that choice, as you said, that's how they pay for their service.
Ah, but you have the choice not to use Gmail. After all, you're electing that choice yourself. ;)