Google pledges to stop scanning emails in Gmail for personalized ads

AppleInsider

Advertising giant Google announced on Friday that later this year it will no longer scan user emails for personalized ads in its free Gmail service, stamping out a policy that has long rankled privacy advocates.

In a post to the company's official blog, Google Cloud Senior Vice President Diane Green revealed that once the change takes place, Gmail will serve ads based on a user's settings. Presumably, ads will still be tailored based on the account's search results.

The change brings free Gmail accounts in line with the paid G Suite Gmail service, which already did not scan ads for personalization. After the switch, both free Gmail and G Suite Gmail will be under the same advertising policy.

"Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change," Green wrote. "This decision brings Gmail ads in line with how we personalize ads for other Google products. Ads are shown based on users' settings. Users can change those settings at any time, including disabling ads personalization."

Gmail has 1.2 billion users worldwide, and competes with Apple's iCloud mail service. Unlike Gmail, Apple's iCloud is not ad-supported.

"No other email service protects its users from spam, hacking, and phishing as successfully as Gmail," Green said.

gatorguy

This will be very appreciated news for some number of Gmail users. Of course this might have been prompted by Judge Koh who clearly disliked the practice and had full intention of issuing rules under which Google would be permitted to do so. Far easier and more PR worthy to get out ahead of it and simply stop doing it altogether. 

edited June 2017

ericthehalfbee

"Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change."

So what WILL they be scanned and used for?

anantksundaram

I was using Gmail less and less, now to the point of near non-use, because of this. It might be too little too late. 

Also, I think iOS may have played a part in killing it off since no ads were possible. 

edited June 2017

gatorguy

ericthehalfbee said:

"Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change."

So what WILL they be scanned and used for?

Probably the same thing Apple scans user email for: Spam filtering and malware/phishing protection. I think I also read something a couple years back (perhaps earlier) that email services like those provided by Apple and Google also scan for child porn? 

edited June 2017

steven n.

gatorguy said:

This will be very appreciated news for some number of Gmail users. 

This is even more welcome news to people NOT Google Service users and have never agreed to Google's TOS but they still scan emails going to/from those people.

tulkas

ericthehalfbee said:

"Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change."

So what WILL they be scanned and used for?

Exactly. They used very careful weasel works. They could have simply said "emails won't be scanned. Period."

But they intentionally added qualifiers to their statement, "for ads". With that qualification, scanning for any other sort of data mining is A-OK.

gatorguy

tulkas said:

ericthehalfbee said:

"Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change."

So what WILL they be scanned and used for?

Exactly. They used very careful weasel works. They could have simply said "emails won't be scanned. Period."

But they intentionally added qualifiers to their statement, "for ads". With that qualification, scanning for any other sort of data mining is A-OK.

Of course they scan emails. So does Apple. So does Yahoo. So does Microsoft. It's good news for those concerned about "privacy". Don't turn it into FUD. Sometimes even a hated company does something right, even tho it might have taken a little judicial prodding... or not. I suspect that's the reason behind it but Google doesn't say.  

edited June 2017

tulkas

gatorguy said:

ericthehalfbee said:

"Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change."

So what WILL they be scanned and used for?

Probably the same thing Apple scans user email for: Spam filtering and malware/phishing protection. I think I also read something a couple years back (perhaps earlier) that email services like those provided by Apple and Google also scan for child porn? 

Given their spin on this as a privacy benefit, I would have expected them to say that, if it were the case. The fact that they instead simply qualified their statements with the one thing it won't be scanned for leaves the door wide open.

Just not for ads.

blunt

A lot of gmail user don't even know that their mails are being scanned. Sneaky stuff.

gatorguy

tulkas said:

gatorguy said:

ericthehalfbee said:

"Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change."

So what WILL they be scanned and used for?

Probably the same thing Apple scans user email for: Spam filtering and malware/phishing protection. I think I also read something a couple years back (perhaps earlier) that email services like those provided by Apple and Google also scan for child porn? 

Given their spin on this as a privacy benefit, I would have expected them to say that, if it were the case. The fact that they instead simply qualified their statements with the one thing it won't be scanned for leaves the door wide open.

Just not for ads.

Where does Apple say what they scan emails for? Or MS? Yahoo may since they had a court order to be more transparent, but maybe not. Just because email providers don't spell out every reason they may scan your emails, which nearly all do for your own good, (and no there's no sweaty-face guy perusing them looking for naked pics of your wife) does not mean they're hiding something nefarious. 

edited June 2017

gatorguy

Blunt said:

A lot of gmail user don't even know that their mails are being scanned. Sneaky stuff.

A lot of email users of ANYONE'S service don't really think about their emails being "scanned". Not that it matters for the most part. No one is sitting there taking notes, with the possible exception of by court order perhaps.

lkrupp

Will people ever figure out that Google is not a tech company? Google is an advertising company. With Google YOU are the product they sell. Every service they offer, every product they sell is designed to make YOU a better product for them. Who writes checks to Google? Consumers? Nope, especially not with all those “free" services they offer. Google’s main income is from advertisers who buy their product...YOU! Google, the gargantuan AD company masquerading as a tech company.

edited June 2017

gatorguy

lkrupp said:

Will people ever figure out that Google is not a tech company? Google is an advertising company. With Google YOU are the product they sell. Every service they offer, every product they sell is designed to make YOU a better product for them. Who writes checks to Google? Consumers? Nope, especially not with all those “free" services they offer. Google’s main income is from advertisers who buy their product...YOU! Google, the gargantuan AD company masquerading as a tech company.

They're quite obviously both, unless they have the most magical facade the world has ever seen that just makes us just THINK they've developed a few OS'es, engineered various pieces of simple yet quite effective hardware, created new and more simplified coding languages, delved into medical treatments, studies and devices, worked on satellite technologies, experimented with new ways to deliver internet services to the remotest and often poorest parts of the planet, and on and on. 

And also quite obviously many of their "moonshots" had nothing to do with ads. From the outside looking in Google sure looks like they do some stuff just to try and make our lives better. Not everything of course, but give 'em credit for being the good guys with no expectation of being paid back at least once in awhile. 

edited June 2017

evilution

"Later this year".

the decision has been made, what's the wait for, why not now?

gatorguy

evilution said:

"Later this year".

the decision has been made, what's the wait for, why not now?

Easy. Squeeze out a little more value before ending it. There might be other reasons but that seems like a reasonable one to me.

edited June 2017

spamsandwich

ericthehalfbee said:

"Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change."

So what WILL they be scanned and used for?

For immediate forwarding to the CIA, FBI and NSA, regardless of content.

macxpress

Just don't use Gmail...problem solved! Why anyone would use any Google service is beyond me...

jdb8167

Too late Google. I’m never coming back. Though I’m happy that they will stop spying on emails that I send to friends who still use GMail. People won’t pay $100 /yr to protect their privacy.

gatorguy

tulkas said:

gatorguy said:

ericthehalfbee said:

"Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalization after this change."

So what WILL they be scanned and used for?

Probably the same thing Apple scans user email for: Spam filtering and malware/phishing protection. I think I also read something a couple years back (perhaps earlier) that email services like those provided by Apple and Google also scan for child porn? 

Given their spin on this as a privacy benefit, I would have expected them to say that, if it were the case. The fact that they instead simply qualified their statements with the one thing it won't be scanned for leaves the door wide open.

Just not for ads.

Here ya go, via Ars:
Google will still scan all your e-mails for search indexing, filtering, spam and virus detection, and the new smart reply feature

simply258

Thank goodness those top (and bottom) bezels will soon be a thing of the past. Their shrinkage is way overdue.