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Spam: Now it's built right in!
Fri 2 Apr 2004
Google is test marketing a free email service, Gmail. Some of the qoutes appearing in the LA Times and on Drudge make for interesting reading, and should be sending a signal to corporate America about blocking outbound SMTP mail to certain domains. (emphasis mine)
LA TIMES reporting on Friday: The Internet search firm insists that it needs to know what's in the e-mails that pass through its system -- so that they can be sprinkled with advertisements Google thinks are relevant.
After all, revenue from those targeted ads will pay for the Gmail service, which began a limited test Thursday, offering up to 500 times as much e-mail storage as competing Web e-mail programs from Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
The TIMES adds: The electronic letters won't be read by Google employees; computers will handle that chore. Nonetheless, the spector of seeing an ad for an antacid beside a message from a friend complaining about stomach pain is enough to make some people nervous about the e-mail service.
"There will undoubtedly be some folks that will see this and freak out," said Ray Everett-Church, chief privacy officer for TurnTide Inc., an anti-spam company in Conshohocken, Pa. The aggressive advertising strategy may put a damper on Google's biggest move yet away from its core business of Internet search. After reading the privacy policy on the Gmail website Thursday, consumer-rights groups began sending complaints to the privately held Mountain View, Calif., company and preparing to warn users to stay away.
"The privacy implications of going through and perusing a customer's e-mail to display targeted advertising could be the Achilles' heel for Google's services," said Jordana Beebe, the communications director for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, an consumer group in San Diego.
My suggestion: block the @google.com domain now, before your well meaning employees email confidential information to a coworker using the free service. Why do I think this should be done? Google has established in their privacy policies and EULA's that they keep statistics on everything. This means there will be a statisitical profile of every email domain and user who sends email into and out of their system. Only Google can say what that might be used for.