Google Will Stop Scanning Your Emails to Show Personalized Ads in Gmail

[TheAppleFairy]

Oh good, less Adam & Eve ads in my future.

 

[CarpalMac]

Google is garbage look at Nexus Pixel the next update will be in Oktober 2018!

You have just reminded me of this funny strip, thanks!

 

[itguy06]

My company also moved to G Suite. It's garbage. Literally the single worst email system I have ever used. pine on a command line for mail locally on a UNIX box is better than this. The one thing Google is supposed to be really great at, search, is utterly worthless. I can search for an exact phrase, with quotes and everything, and get a hundred results, none of which contain the phrase. Meanwhile, the two emails I know I have which contain the phrase don't show up anywhere in the results. Even the worst self-hosted email system I ever saw allowed me to download mail and search it locally with competent tools.

It's also eye-wateringly expensive. I have no idea how upper management thinks this is going to save us money. It will cost more than building a whole new Microsoft Exchange environment every single year. I'm sure the profits from even one additional G Suite contract vastly outweigh the drop in profits expected from no longer reading personal email messages. It isn't like they're no longer advertising in Gmail, after all.

We use Office 365/hosted Exchange/ShitPoint/Crapper(Yammer)/Skype/etc and their platforms all suck donkey nuts too. Outlook is a huge POS, Sharepoint Online looks like a 5th grader designed it and doc editing in it is worthless. Yammer is a POS, Skype is utter garbage. I wish we did G suite and Slack. Yet our previous management had their heads so far up MS's butt when Nadella farted they got dingleberries.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Yet our previous management had their heads so far up MS's butt when Nadella farted they got dingleberries.

LOL. Now that got me laughing.

Agreed with your post - also got a bad taste from the Unlimited OneDrive recall.

 

[Kabeyun]

I still don't trust Google.

Many years ago I had my Gmail hacked because I stupidly used the same password on a few websites (not all) and this Ubuntu forum I used to frequent before becoming a Mac user was hacked and they used that to access my Gmail. This was before two-step and stuff like that. And apparently my backup email, which was Yahoo back then, had shut down my email because I hadn't used it for so long. I couldn't find anyone at Google or anywhere on their site that could help me.

It was around that time that I was getting into Macs and iPhones and I had the realization that if you're not paying for it in some way, you're the product being sold. I think this was also around the time Google started doing creepy stuff like this and becoming more invasive with tracking, throwing their "don't be evil" motto to the wind, as well as blatantly copying the iPhone functionality in their new Android OS. I started removing myself from everything Google, such as Docs and Calendar that I used all the time, and moved everything over to Mobile Me when that came out. It was a bit of a cluster, but I liked paying for it instead of selling my soul to the devil, and it has gotten a lot better over the years. I just can't trust Google to not betray my trust or to have my back if something goes wrong.

That realization led to me eventually shutting down things like FaceBook, as I realized that I was just giving them all of this information for free so they could make money off of me while massively wasting my time. I wish there were a paid social network that doesn't have all that crap, but the nature of people and getting them to part with their cash means that you'd never get the network big enough to be worthwhile. They tried that with app.net a few years ago and it failed.

These.

I don't socially network; I don't Twit; I don't register for unnecessary app accounts; I VPN all the time; I've never even considered third party mail apps; I don't allow any app access to my contacts or, unless it's critical (Waze), my location; and I don't ever, EVER, evereverevereverever trust Google.

Their primary mission is to mine, hoard, and monetize data and you, friends, are the sources. I don't even use their search engine, happily settling for somewhat inferior results from DuckDuckGo.

If Apple was caught reading your email the outcry would be audible from the moon. (Why Google gets a PR pass on this is beyond me. Maybe, sadly, it's because people expect it.) But Apple didn't, and they never will, because they make their money selling gadgets & services, not people. Their dogged dedication to personal security is why it would take Tim Cook himself taking a crap on my dinner plate for me to even consider changing info ecosystems.

 

[PizzaBoxStyle]

Many years ago I had my Gmail hacked because I stupidly used the same password on a few websites (not all) and this Ubuntu forum I used to frequent before becoming a Mac user was hacked and they used that to access my Gmail. This was before two-step and stuff like that. And apparently my backup email, which was Yahoo back then, had shut down my email because I hadn't used it for so long. I couldn't find anyone at Google or anywhere on their site that could help me.

It was around that time that I was getting into Macs and iPhones and I had the realization that if you're not paying for it in some way, you're the product being sold. I think this was also around the time Google started doing creepy stuff like this and becoming more invasive with tracking, throwing their "don't be evil" motto to the wind, as well as blatantly copying the iPhone functionality in their new Android OS. I started removing myself from everything Google, such as Docs and Calendar that I used all the time, and moved everything over to Mobile Me when that came out. It was a bit of a cluster, but I liked paying for it instead of selling my soul to the devil, and it has gotten a lot better over the years. I just can't trust Google to not betray my trust or to have my back if something goes wrong.

That realization led to me eventually shutting down things like FaceBook, as I realized that I was just giving them all of this information for free so they could make money off of me while massively wasting my time. I wish there were a paid social network that doesn't have all that crap, but the nature of people and getting them to part with their cash means that you'd never get the network big enough to be worthwhile. They tried that with app.net a few years ago and it failed.

I second that about MobileMe.

It was okay back then, and it's gotten better in its newer iCloud form.

But the biggest thing for me is, when people can't believe I use iCloud mail service, I just explain that there's no ads and it includes push. Gmail can't beat that, and iCloud is completely fine for a home/personal address.

 

[LordQ]

That sounds a bit creepy. You can't trust Google.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

Great post! (I shortened it to reply to parts) -- I agree 100%. I am one such user who relies on Google way too much. This year I took a 100% no Google challenge for 3 months and tried other services only (Spideroak, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc...). Found out how really dependent I am on Google. The ability to have 12 people modify one document at a time, sharing calendars, sharing files via Google Drive, unlimited photo backup, .... completely reliant and I see that as a problem. Sure, all my data is backed up locally, in other services, etc... but if Google ever does decide to go evil (which many may already believe is now) - yeah, that'll suck.

I really try to like duckduckgo but I find that any time I'm in a hurry and can't wade through their garbage results to find the right one I go back to google search. I'm mostly google free and operate entirely without any google sign in. And no, I'm not on Facebook either, that's turned into a place for my mom to keep in touch with my grandma and aunts anyway

 

[BigMcGuire]

These.

I don't socially network; I don't Twit; I don't register for unnecessary app accounts; I VPN all the time; I've never even considered third party mail apps; I don't allow any app access to my contacts or, unless it's critical (Waze), my location; and I never, ever, never, everevereverever trust Google. Their primary mission is to mine, hoard, and monetize data and you, friends, are the sources. I don't even use their search engine, happily settling for somewhat inferior results from DuckDuckGo.

If Apple was caught reading your email the outcry would be audible from the moon. (Why Google gets a PR pass on this is beyond me. Maybe, sadly, it's because people expect it.) But Apple didn't, and they never will, because they make their money selling gadgets & services, not people. Their dogged dedication to personal security is why it would take Tim Cook himself taking a crap on my dinner plate for me to even consider changing info ecosystems.

I admire people like you. It would take a lot for me to do something similar. I'm way too far ingrained and reliant on Google Apps justifying it with the idea that I know they're mining my data but they claim to do it responsibly -- in return I'm getting X Y Z services (email, an office suite with multi-user editing, unlimited photo storage, maps (waze), and a search engine that has been a big reason why I know what I know today, using Chrome across many platforms/devices, etc...).

It would be extremely painful for me to leave it behind.

I look at Google as a company that isn't completely evil (yet) - https://environment.google/ - the grants it gives to schools and science, etc... https://www.google.com/intl/en/giving/grants.html https://onetoday.google.com/ -- it does a lot of good and I really like the services it provides. https://www.google.org/

 

[Wawajey]

There isn't one directly. They are trying to sell Gmail as an "enterprise solution" to companies which don't want to run their own email infrastructure. It's part of what they call "G Suite". Corporate customers' email has never been scanned, but there has been a lot of confusion from them. To remove the confusion, the G Suite team pressured the Gmail team to remove content scanning entirely.

They will just check who who you getting the emails from, that's equally as creepy.

 

[roland.g]

Google: "We'll stop invading your privacy... well not today but sometime soon."

Sounds like the junkie who says I'm going to quit, just after this one last time.

 

[Sasparilla]

Well, this is nice to see. Any improvement on privacy for the masses (I believe Gmail is the biggest mail system) is a good thing.

No sugar coating it though, in the end though you and your personal details (search history etc.) are the product there. But since that isn't going away, this is nice.

 

[dominiongamma]

Still won't use. Such a creepy company.

Well apples iCloud goes down way too much so I can't trust apples mailing service I'll stick with gmail

 

[pat500000]

Got googled?

 

[PatrickCocoa]

You are all making a mistake by parsing
"Google Will Stop Scanning Your Emails to Show Personalized Ads in Gmail"
to mean
"Goole Will Stop Scanning Your Emails"

What Google means is that they will continue to scan your emails, but won't use that information to "Show Personalized Ads in Gmail".

That way Google can still get all the juicy personal information and connections from your email, and:
- use it for internal purposes
- sell it to someone, possibly even a subisidiary

Since Google won't show personalized ads based on your emails, the executives who are using gmail for company purposes will incorrectly think their emails are private.

 

[Kabeyun]

I admire people like you. It would take a lot for me to do something similar. I'm way too far ingrained and reliant on Google Apps justifying it with the idea that I know they're mining my data but they claim to do it responsibly -- in return I'm getting X Y Z services (email, an office suite with multi-user editing, unlimited photo storage, maps (waze), and a search engine that has been a big reason why I know what I know today, using Chrome across many platforms/devices, etc...).

It would be extremely painful for me to leave it behind.

Appreciate the comment and I get it. Dunno if could be satisfied if I had to bail on Apple, for example.

I look at Google as a company that isn't completely evil (yet) - https://environment.google/ - the grants it gives to schools and science, etc... https://www.google.com/intl/en/giving/grants.html https://onetoday.google.com/ -- it does a lot of good and I really like the services it provides. https://www.google.org/

Even the Mafia feeds the poor. In fact, like Maduro in Venezuela, it's quite strategic.

 

[Madmic23]

Well I guess this guys out of a job

 

[69Mustang]

If Apple was caught reading your email the outcry would be audible from the moon. (Why Google gets a PR pass on this is beyond me. Maybe, sadly, it's because people expect it.) But Apple didn't, and they never will, because they make their money selling gadgets & services, not people.

I doubt there would even be a whisper, much less an outcry. Apple is already asking for permission to use customer data such as email, file storage, calendars, notes, photos, password synchronization, iTunes, and Find My iPhone. All done under the auspices of iCloud Analytics.
Let's be clear here. Apple makes their money selling gadgets, services, and ads. But no, not people. Google also makes their money selling gadgets, services, and ads. And no, not people either. I am of the opinion there is nothing wrong with either company doing what they do. You obviously differ and that's okay. To each his own. Both of those companies generate significant revenue in each of the aforementioned categories. Apple makes more money selling gadgets than they make selling ads, but they sell them nonetheless. Google makes more money selling ads while still selling gadgets.
Google is getting out of email scanning to concentrate more on Enterprise. Apple is getting into email scanning to improve intelligent features such as Siri and other similar or related services. Still have no problem with either since I can control how much information I give each company.

 

[Alenore]

My company also moved to G Suite. It's garbage. Literally the single worst email system I have ever used. pine on a command line for mail locally on a UNIX box is better than this. The one thing Google is supposed to be really great at, search, is utterly worthless. I can search for an exact phrase, with quotes and everything, and get a hundred results, none of which contain the phrase. Meanwhile, the two emails I know I have which contain the phrase don't show up anywhere in the results. Even the worst self-hosted email system I ever saw allowed me to download mail and search it locally with competent tools.

It's also eye-wateringly expensive. I have no idea how upper management thinks this is going to save us money. It will cost more than building a whole new Microsoft Exchange environment every single year. I'm sure the profits from even one additional G Suite contract vastly outweigh the drop in profits expected from no longer reading personal email messages. It isn't like they're no longer advertising in Gmail, after all.

Search has never been a problem for me, and is even better than most services, which includes a lot of filters right through the searchbox (time, attachment, recipient, custom email header, ...).

Besides, you can sync your g suite account to any mail client you wish, to search it locally as you require.

As for the "eye-wateringly expensive", it's €8 a month here (and $10 in the US) for the business plan, around €20 ($25 in US) per userfor the enterprise plan, which you require only if you have no backup/analytics services in your company. How is that so expensive? Your company earns that amount in a few minutes or even seconds of your time spent there.

Check your facts before spitting our non senses, please.

 

[groovyd]

'later this year' lol... like it takes more then 5 minutes to just turn off that service.

 

[longtimelurker]

I still don't trust Google.

and why should anyone trust Google. PS an ex-employee told me so...

 

[TMRJIJ]

Really. I assume you also don't use Facebook, Twitter, or any other company that provides ads that track what you do? I assume you don't shop at Wal-Mart or Target? ......... Funny because a lot of Government (State) sites use Google including colleges - lots and lots of companies use it. I guess all their trust is misplaced. <shakes head>

Bruh, I have so many content blockers and alternatives that I barely even recognize most of Google now. I can’t even see the ads on my own sites.

 

[longtimelurker]

Many years ago I had my Gmail hacked because I stupidly used the same password on a few websites (not all) and this Ubuntu forum I used to frequent before becoming a Mac user was hacked and they used that to access my Gmail. This was before two-step and stuff like that. And apparently my backup email, which was Yahoo back then, had shut down my email because I hadn't used it for so long. I couldn't find anyone at Google or anywhere on their site that could help me.

It was around that time that I was getting into Macs and iPhones and I had the realization that if you're not paying for it in some way, you're the product being sold. I think this was also around the time Google started doing creepy stuff like this and becoming more invasive with tracking, throwing their "don't be evil" motto to the wind, as well as blatantly copying the iPhone functionality in their new Android OS. I started removing myself from everything Google, such as Docs and Calendar that I used all the time, and moved everything over to Mobile Me when that came out. It was a bit of a cluster, but I liked paying for it instead of selling my soul to the devil, and it has gotten a lot better over the years. I just can't trust Google to not betray my trust or to have my back if something goes wrong.

That realization led to me eventually shutting down things like FaceBook, as I realized that I was just giving them all of this information for free so they could make money off of me while massively wasting my time. I wish there were a paid social network that doesn't have all that crap, but the nature of people and getting them to part with their cash means that you'd never get the network big enough to be worthwhile. They tried that with app.net a few years ago and it failed.

Excellent post and perspectives. Sure I use Google mail for various purposes -- like group exchange mails I need to keep for a decade of history, etc. But do i trust them, no, and why should I?
...and for those Google twenty-somethings employees that are reading this, f*ck off and get a real job you can be proud to keep for longer than a year or two. When you have kids who then ask what you did during the rip-off marketing years, you can say, "I quit after learning those terrible things my employer did while profiting off of innocents and then I went to work at Subway and now own my own franchise!"

 

[jzuena]

There isn't one directly. They are trying to sell Gmail as an "enterprise solution" to companies which don't want to run their own email infrastructure. It's part of what they call "G Suite". Corporate customers' email has never been scanned, but there has been a lot of confusion from them. To remove the confusion, the G Suite team pressured the Gmail team to remove content scanning entirely.

I don't know about corporate emails never being scanned. My company had email hosted by Google several years ago, and I started getting ads related to my work email contents.

 

[Glassed Silver]

Many years ago I had my Gmail hacked because I stupidly used the same password on a few websites (not all) and this Ubuntu forum I used to frequent before becoming a Mac user was hacked and they used that to access my Gmail. This was before two-step and stuff like that. And apparently my backup email, which was Yahoo back then, had shut down my email because I hadn't used it for so long. I couldn't find anyone at Google or anywhere on their site that could help me.

It was around that time that I was getting into Macs and iPhones and I had the realization that if you're not paying for it in some way, you're the product being sold. I think this was also around the time Google started doing creepy stuff like this and becoming more invasive with tracking, throwing their "don't be evil" motto to the wind, as well as blatantly copying the iPhone functionality in their new Android OS. I started removing myself from everything Google, such as Docs and Calendar that I used all the time, and moved everything over to Mobile Me when that came out. It was a bit of a cluster, but I liked paying for it instead of selling my soul to the devil, and it has gotten a lot better over the years. I just can't trust Google to not betray my trust or to have my back if something goes wrong.

That realization led to me eventually shutting down things like FaceBook, as I realized that I was just giving them all of this information for free so they could make money off of me while massively wasting my time. I wish there were a paid social network that doesn't have all that crap, but the nature of people and getting them to part with their cash means that you'd never get the network big enough to be worthwhile. They tried that with app.net a few years ago and it failed.

Free, libre, open source, not commercial.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_(social_network)

Glassed Silver:mac