Google Site Search

Menu
  • Home
  • Google Site Search
  • Site Search 360
  • Swiftype
  • Zoomd
  • Contact Us

Home
Swiftype
Google Says It Doesn’t Go Through Your Inbox Anymore, But I…
Swiftype

Google Says It Doesn’t Go Through Your Inbox Anymore, But I…

admin July 3, 2018


Image: Gizmodo/Google/Pixabay

Millions of people use third-party apps in conjunction with their Gmail accounts, and hundreds of millions of messages flow through the service on a regular basis. Last year, Google itself vowed to stop scanning users’ personal emails for data-driven advertising gold but it reportedly is still giving outside apps the ability to snoop through inboxes.

Third-party apps have been at the heart of Facebook’s ongoing privacy controversies over the last several months. Beginning with the revelation that political data firm Cambridge Analytica bought the private data of Facebook users who signed up for a quiz app, it’s become all too clear that the social network isn’t good at maintaining control of the information that earns it billions. This was reiterated last week when Facebook admitted that a third-party app had left the data of 120 million users exposed for anyone with the wherewithal to collect it. But as so many readers remind me on a regular basis, this isn’t just a Facebook problem, it’s a tech giant problem.

Google is arguably just as dangerous or even worse than Facebook when it comes to protecting users’ privacy. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out on Monday, there are hundreds of outside software developers that have free rein over your most sensitive emails. And it’s not just a reminder that algorithms can gather data to target you with ads and other types of messaging—flesh and blood humans do it, too. In the report, the Journal gave numerous examples, including:

One of those companies is Return Path Inc., which collects data for marketers by scanning the inboxes of more than two million people who have signed up for one of the free apps in Return Path’s partner network using a Gmail, Microsoft Corp. or Yahoo email address. Computers normally do the scanning, analyzing about 100 million emails a day. At one point about two years ago, Return Path employees read about 8,000 unredacted emails to help train the company’s software, people familiar with the episode say…

Letting employees read user emails has become “common practice” for companies that collect this type of data, says Thede Loder, the former chief technology officer at eDataSource Inc., a rival to Return Path. He says engineers at eDataSource occasionally reviewed emails when building and improving software algorithms.

“Some people might consider that to be a dirty secret,” says Mr. Loder. “It’s kind of reality.”

It is, indeed, a reality. It’s a reality because we like using novelty apps one time and forgetting about them, or because we find one client to have a more pleasing user experience than the basic Gmail app. Last April, Gizmodo did a deep dive into the methods unroll.me, a subscription-cleaning service, uses to worm its way into your private life without you stopping to think about it. Two months later, Google said it would stop doing its own data scans of Gmail’s free users to target advertising. But a group of third-party developers was still allowed to do it. The reason, in a nutshell, is the ever-devious user agreements that users never read.

Both Return Path and eDataSource cited user agreements as their cover for engaging in such practices. For its part, eDataSource did tell the Journal that it has stopped allowing employees to go through strangers’ emails.

We reached out to Google to ask for comment on the story and if it intends to continue this practice, but we didn’t receive an immediate reply. A spokesperson for the search giant told the Journal that the company vets all developers that are given access to its service and “if we ever run into areas where disclosures and practices are unclear, Google takes quick action with the developer.” That’s, ya know, comforting.

Fortunately, you can check right here to see if you’ve given any apps access to your account. It’s also always good to let corporations know that this is the kind of practice that makes them untrustworthy.

[Wall Street Journal]

Swiftype Custom Site Search

Related Posts:

  • ‘Crush Them’: An Oral History of the Lawsuit That Upended S…‘Crush Them’: An Oral History of the Lawsuit That…
  • What Advertising Options Does Google Offer?What Advertising Options Does Google Offer?
  • The First Episode Of BuzzFeed’s New PodcastThe First Episode Of BuzzFeed’s New Podcast
  • Slate’s Use of Your DataSlate’s Use of Your Data
  • Using Internet search data to examine the relationship betw…Using Internet search data to examine the…
  • How To Use Schema.org for Structured DataHow To Use Schema.org for Structured Data
Share
Tweet
Email
Prev Article
Next Article

Related Articles

STAT, a search analytics tool shared a graph on Twitter …

Google Showing More Search Snippets With Images?

Google Lens, the technology that combines the smartphone camera’s ability …

Google Lens comes to the Pixel 3 camera, can identify produ…

About The Author

admin

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

  • Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Continue Through Wee…
  • A Global Digital Media Network
  • Horrell Capital Management Has Increased Google Cl A (GOOGL…
  • Sasha Banks And Bayley Become First Women’s Tag Team Champi…
  • SEOHost.Net Emphasizes The Importance of Keywords In Lieu o…

Recent Posts

  • Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Continue Through Wee…
  • A Global Digital Media Network
  • Horrell Capital Management Has Increased Google Cl A (GOOGL…

Google Site Search

Google Site Search Alternatives

Categories

  • AddSearch
  • Algolia
  • Cludo
  • Google Site Search
  • Site Search 360
  • Swiftype
  • Zoomd

Archives

  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018

Tags

AddSearchAlgoliaAmazon CloudSearchApache Lucene SolrBen Givon Affiliate NetworkCludoDavid Cartu MarketingExpertrec Search EngineFree Google Site Search AlternativeGoogleGoogle ElasticSearchGooglesGoogle Site SearchGSS Site Search AlternativeJonathan Siennicki Social NetworksSearchSEOSite Search 360SwiftypeZoomd

Recent

  • Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Continue Through Wee…
Copyright © 2019 Google Site Search
Theme by Googlesitesearch.eu

Ad Blocker Detected

Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.

Refresh