Google has often been criticised for not having a watertight privacy policy when it comes to its email services. One of the biggest criticisms revolves around the inherent conflict between two of its core business services – advertising (greatest importance) and email services (less so).
First and foremost, its main focus is on the search engine and making money through its gigantic advertising network. Google compiles as much data as possible to serve up ads that are most targeted to you.
Up until recently, it has been unclear as to how much of that data is compiled based on content contained within email. After all, one of the main aims of your email service provider should be to keep your data secure and private.
Recently though, new evidence from a US lawsuit has come to light which shows the extent to which Google pries on “private” email communications. According to The Guardian the claimant alleges that Google "unlawfully opens up, reads, and acquires the content of people's private email messages".
While all reputable email providers protect your inbox by scanning for spam, phishing scams, and malware attacks, not all managed email services use the content and themes of your email to serve up highly targeted ads.
Google is said to scan the content of your entire inbox to identify themes and trends for ad targeting. Google is also said to use exact words and themes from received email from other service providers – regardless of whether or not those providers have granted them permission.
For a long time Google has stood by its motto of ‘do no evil’, but perhaps the words of Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will come back to haunt them and shed light on some of the shady practices that the internet giant seems to be engaging in:
“There is what I call the creepy line, and the Google policy about many of these things is to get right up to the creepy line, but not cross it” – Eric Schmidt.
If you value your email privacy and want your data to remain confidential, you can switch to an email provider who shares your wishes, like MailGuard and it's newly launched service HostedMail.
