Safari compatibility for GMail

[kylos]

Privacy issues. First, you don't like your mail being scanned? It likely already is being scanned by your ISP and what not for viruses/spam etc. And google or hotmail or yahoo or whatever could still be scanning/storing your mail in an unethical manner without your knowledge anyhow, so gmail isn't introducing any new potential "evil" by scanning your mail for customized adverts. Email goes through many hands from one location to another. It's just as likely that your mail will be snooped along the way. Anything can go on in a program behind the scenes. Google has said that your mail will not be used for any other purpose than a keyword scan. Has your ISP or email service told you that they are not using your mail inappropriately? So don't say Google is invading your privacy.

Webmail. I've tried to avoid it as much as possible. I want access to my mail whenever, wherever. And with my laptop and Postfix Enabler (search versiontracker for it), I really have very little need. I'm very, very, very happy about that. However, GMail sounds very attractive as far as features and usability are concerned. I would still like a pop3 or imap version, though, before I'd be too interested in it.

 

[dontmatter]

Isn't anyone worried about WHY gmail can offer 1GB for free? Scanning your mail so they know what to advertise, and sending you ads in message form? I'd like to keep my privacy, thank you very much

Note: I might open up an account to send big files to myself....and friends. But, none of my actual mail is going through there.

 

[dontmatter]

Privacy issues. First, you don't like your mail being scanned? It likely already is being scanned by your ISP and what not for viruses/spam etc. And google or hotmail or yahoo or whatever could still be scanning/storing your mail in an unethical manner without your knowledge anyhow, so gmail isn't introducing any new potential "evil" by scanning your mail for customized adverts. Email goes through many hands from one location to another. It's just as likely that your mail will be snooped along the way. Anything can go on in a program behind the scenes. Google has said that your mail will not be used for any other purpose than a keyword scan. Has your ISP or email service told you that they are not using your mail inappropriately? So don't say Google is invading your privacy.

Webmail. I've tried to avoid it as much as possible. I want access to my mail whenever, wherever. And with my laptop and Postfix Enabler (search versiontracker for it), I really have very little need. I'm very, very, very happy about that. However, GMail sounds very attractive as far as features and usability are concerned. I would still like a pop3 or imap version, though, before I'd be too interested in it.

Yeah, but it's a different thing when somebody has the potential to do it secretely, but it's not exaclty legal, vs. when they specifically say they are going to, and put it in the contract you scroll to the bottom of and hit accept because it's pages of gibberish anyway. If they do that publically, what do they do secretly?

Just saying that I don't think hotmail is really that dangerous...except of course that it's run by the devil.

 

[kylos]

What google is doing is not in any way infringing on your privacy. They simply scan your mail, generate your adverts and then get rid of any copies of your mail (other than yours, of course). This is perfectly legitimate and if you don't mind advertisements getting in your way, not at all a problem.

Google is no more likely to use your mail improperly (ie. outside of what they have explicitly told you) than any other email service, web or ISP based. Just because you give them specific rights does not mean they will take any specific liberties with your privacy that any other provider wouldn't take. It doesn't logically follow.

 

[wowser]

damn. i have my Gmail account, now, but it so does NOT work with Safari and i just get spat out. I tried using IE, but no luck there either and now i access it using the excellent Firefox (like in my windows days)

 

[PRØBE]

Principle

Sure, I use Google for my search engine, and with that they can get my IP, computer, and browser info, but that is about it unless they get a warrant.

This Gmail however, they will know a lot about me and the contents of my email. That is a bit more than I am willing to give, and a gig of storage doesn't justify that. Now, if they paid me for using their app, maybe I would think twice, but even then I probably wouldn't do it. It's just too against my principles.

I'm sure for a million people or more, they will be happy with it.[/QUOTE]



I totally agree. I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole. I am also concerned that more people aren't making an issue of this. I guess the 1gig sweetner is too much of a tempting bribe for many. IMO they have no right to read/scan people's mail no matter what they offer. I'm sure most people who use it will soon forget that their mail is being scanned.

 

[wowser]

i actually don't have a problem with what they are doing, but what will they actually do with the information from my emails? Should i not make it my default email account? I do trust google as an ethically sound company, so i am far less worried about google doing this than some more dubious company

 

[kylos]

They'll create your custom adverts and then relinquish all access to your mail to you. Really, all webmails store your data, so yes, in a physical sense google still has your mail, but like other webmails, they don't access it once they've generated your ads. I wouldn't make my main account a webmail personally, but if that's what you're already doing then you shouldn't have a problem with gmail.

 

[nsb3000]

Wow..I have a gmail account now!

I just got invited to the beta, so this method seems to work.

I already had a blogger account, but hadn't even logged in in 3 months. I've posted about 5 times in the last 3 days and poof, on the right side a like comes up to try gmail.

so, its worth a shot if you already have a blogger account and haven't used it. If you don't have an account, making a new one might work.

Thanks for the tip. I two am a Blogger user, and so after a read your message, I went ahead and logged in, and behold, I am now on the exclusive list of gmail account holders. It is pretty cool...

 

[coolbreeze]

I, for one, am not renewing .Mac and will transition to gmail. I was about to buy an account with www.fastmail.fm, but why do that when a service as good as gmail is free?

Now if .Mac increased it's STANDARD storage to a competitive level, maybe 100MB or so, I may consider renewing...but $100 is too much for 15 MB (yes, I know there's more to .Mac than email, but I use email ~95% of the time). The 15 MB is dated and needs to match more modern offerings (at least those coming down the pike). As for hotmail's 2 MB, good luck with that Microsoft!

 

[wowser]

They'll create your custom adverts and then relinquish all access to your mail to you. Really, all webmails store your data, so yes, in a physical sense google still has your mail, but like other webmails, they don't access it once they've generated your ads. I wouldn't make my main account a webmail personally, but if that's what you're already doing then you shouldn't have a problem with gmail.

yeah, i'm coming from hotmail. thanks for the info - i think i'll stick with it

 

[Colonel Panik]

BS. IE follows the standards well enough to render properly and there are scores of hacks to make it work like it should.

IE6 claims 100% support for CSS1. But even that isn't true.

It's an annoying fact of life. Like keys and locks. Most people don't steal, but we have security everywhere because of those few that do. Similarly, webcoders would love nothing better than to make pure compliant code, but because of the few browsers that don't support it, they can't.

 

[ipacmm]

cool...I can't wait to sign up.

 

[PRØBE]

Privacy issues. First, you don't like your mail being scanned? It likely already is being scanned by your ISP and what not for viruses/spam etc. And google or hotmail or yahoo or whatever could still be scanning/storing your mail in an unethical manner without your knowledge anyhow, so gmail isn't introducing any new potential "evil" by scanning your mail for customized adverts. Email goes through many hands from one location to another. It's just as likely that your mail will be snooped along the way. Anything can go on in a program behind the scenes. Google has said that your mail will not be used for any other purpose than a keyword scan. Has your ISP or email service told you that they are not using your mail inappropriately? So don't say Google is invading your privacy.

Webmail. I've tried to avoid it as much as possible. I want access to my mail whenever, wherever. And with my laptop and Postfix Enabler (search versiontracker for it), I really have very little need. I'm very, very, very happy about that. However, GMail sounds very attractive as far as features and usability are concerned. I would still like a pop3 or imap version, though, before I'd be too interested in it.

This has to be the least logical argument conceivable.
Imaginary, unsubstantiated "evils" are no basis from which to argue for the acceptance of a very real abuse of privacy.
Although many will be persuaded to give it up in return for some fancy features, privacy should NOT be turned into a cheap commodity.

 

[jackc]

I, for one, am not renewing .Mac and will transition to gmail. I was about to buy an account with www.fastmail.fm, but why do that when a service as good as gmail is free?

Unless you really need a ton of storage, I'll bet Gmail doesn't come close to fastmail. I get virtually no spam with fastmail, and some great features with a one-time $15 member account. One of my favorite features, which helps prevent spam, is subdomain addressing. Let's say your address is joeblow@fastmail.fm. You can give out your email address to a web site as anything@joeblow.fastmail.fm, and it will come to you. Then if it gets spammed, you just block that address.

I don't work for fastmail, I'm just a fan!

 

[kylos]

This has to be the least logical argument conceivable.
Imaginary, unsubstantiated "evils" are no basis from which to argue for the acceptance of a very real abuse of privacy.
Although many will be persuaded to give it up in return for some fancy features, privacy should NOT be turned into a cheap commodity.

Let me clarify for you, gmail neither invades nor abuses your privacy. It stores no information that any other web or imap mail does not store. Once your customized email is created, google has no access to your email. It's essentially a stream editor; the email is simply processed to provide the advertisements, it is never stored for later access by google. Unless you consider the automatic, non-stored, computer generated, not-ever-viewed-by-human-eyes(except yours, obviously) advertisements an invasion of privacy, which is far fetched, gmail does nothing with your e-messages that is not done by any other email service. To call this an invasion of privacy is rather dramatic.

Oh, and if someone wants to turn their own "privacy into a cheap commodity" then they have every right to do so. And I wish them the best of luck.

 

[PRØBE]

Let me clarify for you, gmail neither invades nor abuses your privacy. It stores no information that any other web or imap mail does not store. Once your customized email is created, google has no access to your email. It's essentially a stream editor; the email is simply processed to provide the advertisements, it is never stored for later access by google. Unless you consider the automatic, non-stored, computer generated, not-ever-viewed-by-human-eyes(except yours, obviously) advertisements an invasion of privacy, which is far fetched, gmail does nothing with your e-messages that is not done by any other email service. To call this an invasion of privacy is rather dramatic.

Oh, and if someone wants to turn their own "privacy into a cheap commodity" then they have every right to do so. And I wish them the best of luck.

Thank you for the "clarification".
The emails are scanned, information is gleaned from them, that information is then exploited for marketing purposes. That's an invasion of privacy, voluntary or not. While I am expressing an opinion about the ethics of Gmail, you are merely stating that you accept the logisitics of it.

 

[Rower_CPU]

IE6 claims 100% support for CSS1. But even that isn't true.

It's an annoying fact of life. Like keys and locks. Most people don't steal, but we have security everywhere because of those few that do. Similarly, webcoders would love nothing better than to make pure compliant code, but because of the few browsers that don't support it, they can't.

I'm not saying that IE gets it 100% right - just that it gets it right well enough to not ignore web standards in your design. Where IE gets it wrong, there's usually a hack to make it right.

It's a cop out to say "well, IE doesn't get it right so we can't code to the standards".

 

[SeaFox]

There's just not much comparison at all. Gmail is the best webmail I've ever used. I wonder how many .Mac subscribers will end up migrating, tee hee.

Well, lets see...

• None of the ones who don't want their privacy invaded with GMail's targetted ads (reading your mail to find your interests).
• None of the ones who use iSync.
• None of the ones who use their iDisks.
• None of the ones who like the discounts they get with .Mac

Oh, and

None of the people who avoid current webmail services for the very reason they like being able to get to their mail when they're not online.

 

[oldschool]

This is what I have read online. You guys should check out the screen shots..there is a whole lot more to Gmail than the one gig thing.

yeah i agree. the one gigabyte is just one small part of it. gmail is absolutely awesome.


also, i think people think they are more interesting to others than they actually are. sure somebody at google could read your email, but do they really want to?

 

[PRØBE]

Snail Mail

yeah i agree. the one gigabyte is just one small part of it. gmail is absolutely awesome.


also, i think people think they are more interesting to others than they actually are. sure somebody at google could read your email, but do they really want to?

Think about it this way, normal "snail mail" passes through many hands before it gets pushed through your door. Technically, therefore many people could open it, read it and use the information they find there for their own purposes. They don't of course because they would be breaking the law and would be unlikely to be able to conceal their crime. Now imagine that your postal service says "Hey, we are gonna open your mail and read it to find out information about you, which we will then pass on to junk mail companies for money.In return we will give you free stamps and a T-shirt. Okay?"

Would this be "awesome"?
Gmail is starting a trend. Pretty soon other webmail providers will switch to this model as it's more attractive to advertisers. We will probably have to pay hard cash for our privacy in the near future.

 

[ipoddin]

And Yahoo, HotMail, and others don't? I mean, even AOL searches your e-mail, but once it's used for commericalism, then all the privacy organizations come out of the woodwork. Personally, I'd happly trade the contents of my e-mails (as long as the email addresses are removed) for large storage space and lots of cool features.

Well, neither Hotmail or Yahoo deliver ads in your emails...so I doubt there's any need to scan the contents.

 

[oldschool]

Think about it this way, normal "snail mail" passes through many hands before it gets pushed through your door. Technically, therefore many people could open it, read it and use the information they find there for their own purposes. They don't of course because they would be breaking the law and would be unlikely to be able to conceal their crime. Now imagine that your postal service says "Hey, we are gonna open your mail and read it to find out information about you, which we will then pass on to junk mail companies for money.In return we will give you free stamps and a T-shirt. Okay?"

Would this be "awesome"?
Gmail is starting a trend. Pretty soon other webmail providers will switch to this model as it's more attractive to advertisers. We will probably have to pay hard cash for our privacy in the near future.

For free stamps they can scan MY mail and give it to advertisers I don't care. If i wanted private mail, i would use regular stamps, and have my mail sent the traditional route.

As I said in my previous post, people think they are more interesting than they actually are. If they want "privacy" then don't use gmail. In fact don't use any email.

 

[ethernet76]

Unfortunately GMail isn't that great

Whlie GMail has some neat features, overall it isn't that great.

Being on listservs I filled up my paultry 10 mb Kent State affords me with my POP account. The 1 GB will probably be for me the best benefit, and will keep me using it even though the interface isn't as simple or as great as the one Kent State provides.

Just look at the interface of Gmail service, design wise, it's cluttered and a bit text heavy. Even when you turn off the snippets as I've done.

I understand this was probably done to cut down on the amount of bandwidth used, but it's a little too much for me. Some well placed styling could easily incrase the visual appeal while keeping bandwith at a minimum. One pixel files aren't that heavy on load, and when cached don't really ad that much at all.

Of course what I believe would be optimal would be to be able to customize your account and use a template. Either one you can create yourself, or a preselected one.

 

[the_mole1314]

I totally agree. I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole. I am also concerned that more people aren't making an issue of this. I guess the 1gig sweetner is too much of a tempting bribe for many. IMO they have no right to read/scan people's mail no matter what they offer. I'm sure most people who use it will soon forget that their mail is being scanned.

Do you actually read posts? The emails are SCANNED for certain words relating to advertisements, even then, only mabey 1 out of 3 emails has an ad in it. Google by no means remembers, nor keeps track of, anything in your emails when they scan it for ads. If you are so offended by it, then stop using these boards, the software scans your message for smilie text to convert it to an image, same for AIM and AOL. YAHOO and Hotmail do the same with attachments and also for spam scanning. I have a gmail account and thought this was a brilliant idea, no records are kept of the scanning, just like when you do a Google search and get AdSense or Related Pages info to the side of your search.