gmail

[kevin49093]

Is anyone here lucky enough to snatch up a gmail account? I might be able to get one real soon!

[acidrock]

dude, you can't start this topic and not tell us how you're getting the account!

[Krizoitz]

I'm just waiting to see what the catch is. I mean google is a respected company, but it just sounds too good to be true so I'm kinda skeptical.

[janey]

I'm just waiting to see what the catch is. I mean google is a respected company, but it just sounds too good to be true so I'm kinda skeptical.
they scan your email and add ads to the end, thats the catch.
thats the only way google can make money off the "free" gmail service.

[acidrock]

they scan your email and add ads to the end, thats the catch.
thats the only way google can make money off the "free" gmail service.

I thought they read the email when I saw something in thier policy statement or something on the website, but didn't think that was true. I wonder what they will think of if someone is say, getting a lot of junk email that includes porn? j/k

[howard]

how do you guys feel about the email scanning

invasion of privacy or don't care?

i personally don't care, i wouldn't use that account for anything but transfering files. i plan on getting one as soon as i can

[janey]

how do you guys feel about the email scanning

invasion of privacy or don't care?
Dont care, because spamassassin and other miscellaneous spam filtering apps, antivirus apps and whatnot already scan emails for certain things. Thats why i sent a sort of weird email to the california senator proposing a ban on gmail or whatever because it "read" your email.
Its not like someone's actually going to read your mail, a computer program is just going to scan it and if its about like for example an item x, they'll put ads corresponding to the item in the email. You see it all the time on these forums, dont be too surprised :)

[RBMaraman]

Kevin49093,

If you get this Gmail account, I wouldn't make it your primary account. According to CNN, a California lawmaker is introducing legislation that will keep Google from starting this email service based on information that it will be considered invasion of privacy. I don't want anyone reading my email then adding an advertisement to it.

Here's the article:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/04/13/block.gmail.reut/index.html

[ibjoshua]

As far as I'm aware most email is not encrypted so your email is pretty much open to read by anyone along the way when it leaves your Mac anyway.

i_b_joshua

[kevin49093]

acidrock
I have friend who got "his first name" @gail.com. I asked him about it and it turns out a friend of his (who I've met once or twice) works for google. It turns out his friend is allowed to give some addresses out. I just need to see if he has already given them out.

howard
I don't have a problem with a computer scanning my email for keywords. If I'm looking at ads, I would rather look at ads that might appeal to me. Besides, it's quite a bit of email space that could be useful!

RBMaraman
I've heard about their court troubles. Thought it was just in Europe right now. This wouldn't be my primary account, I though it would be nice to try and get kevin@gmail.com !

[Koodauw]

When it becomes available, just tell me where to sign. Ill take 1 Gig of free email space. I Could ditch the dreaded hotmail account then. Google is free to read about how I can enlarge my p*nis all they want.

[JamesDPS]

Yeah I'd totally let a computer scan my email and place context-sensitive ads for a gig of space... even now I use school and/or business accounts for "official" or important email, and I've used a hotmail account for years (since way before MSN take-over) for the other stuff -- hotmail adds ads to everything as it is. With gmail it just means that the ad is tailored to the subject, which is fine -- you can still ignore it like all other ads, but what if it actually becomes useful? Right now, maybe 1/1000 online ads looks interesting or informative... if they improve it to 1/100 and I become a "smarter consumer", I don't see what the big deal is.

As for deletion of emails, I DO agree that they should allow permanent deletion (which, apparently, gmail does not, right now). I think anyone should have a right to bury their past. So maybe that part they should change.

However, I don't see the point of creating legislation banning this email service -- let people decide for themselves, knowing what they're signing up for... don't take away MY gig of space because you don't want a computer program sifting through your junk, or simply DON'T SIGN UP if you think it's an invasion of privacy... and in any case I'm MUCH more concerned about the "lawmakers" invading my privacy than google. (Always tempted to plug in a bunch of keywords/flags to get NSA's attention and then be like "wassup federal agent computer nerd?!?" at the end... but don't want SWAT busting though my apartment some night).

[rainman::|:|]

Okay, people, i'm all about online privacy, but think about it. Once gmail goes public, there will be hundreds of thousands of accounts created in the first week alone... It's simply not time efficient to have people sitting there reading your email. It's done entirely automatically, finding only keywords (my understanding is this is done at the time you view it- not like it just scans the email in your account and attaches things to it). Sure the idea makes some people edgy, but aside from the fact that free email services aren't really anonymous anymore, Google is a company I trust because i have used their service for years, and it has always met my expectations perfectly. They've never done any of the things that bogged down the other web portals-- loading down with web banners, putting personal horiscopes on the front page-- they've always preserved the Google feel and attitude, and i don't think for a second that they'll even sell my address (hotmail was notorious for that one). Let alone invade my privacy pointlessly.

For you privacy advocates, think about this. The FBI can already read your email, and it uses systems that sniff traffic everywhere to make reports on context-sensitive topics. We're talking about the government spying on it's own citizens for whatever reasons it wants. But a company providing a fantastic service, finding a way to anonymously target ads, is shunned. Makes you wonder.

paul

[acidrock]

I"m a little confused about the adds thing, will it get transfered over, so like say I reply to an email, will the add get sent to the person I'm sending the email to? I think this may be just like yahoo, only as someone pointed out the adds might be more to what i like and not random junk -n

[janey]

If you get this Gmail account, I wouldn't make it your primary account. According to CNN, a California lawmaker is introducing legislation that will keep Google from starting this email service based on information that it will be considered invasion of privacy. I don't want anyone reading my email then adding an advertisement to it. (snip)
shes had some great ideas and laws and bills, etc., but preventing Google from releasing gmail is like...you might as well make all the spam filtering app making companies go bankrupt because their software does it too :\
everything online is already an invasion of privacy...and authorities already have ways to read your email and stuff, whats the big deal?!