Well, there goes hotmail.

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I guess I just don't find those aspects of Gmail that worrying... but, I guess, I don't have anything to hide... so, just never seemed like a big deal to me.

 

[RangerWickett]

You misread me. I wasn't saying I pay for Gmail. I'm saying that, just like all other web searches, google is free. So, um, if google is free, that makes me think they shouldn't be making money. It'd be like if I saw the Red Cross being traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. I'm so used to it being free, I can't fathom what they think people will want to pay for.

 

[Belen]

You misread me. I wasn't saying I pay for Gmail. I'm saying that, just like all other web searches, google is free. So, um, if google is free, that makes me think they shouldn't be making money. It'd be like if I saw the Red Cross being traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. I'm so used to it being free, I can't fathom what they think people will want to pay for.

Advertisers pay them, so do companies who want their names listed at the top of the search.

 

[Belen]

I guess I just don't find those aspects of Gmail that worrying... but, I guess, I don't have anything to hide... so, just never seemed like a big deal to me.

It's not a matter of having something to hide. I have no desire for other people to read communications between family and friends. No one but my wife should read what I write her etc.

 

[reveal]

You misread me. I wasn't saying I pay for Gmail. I'm saying that, just like all other web searches, google is free. So, um, if google is free, that makes me think they shouldn't be making money. It'd be like if I saw the Red Cross being traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. I'm so used to it being free, I can't fathom what they think people will want to pay for.

As I stated before, their product is their search engine. They put it on the web for free and allow people to access information on the Internet with it. But if a company wants to use the same technology to search their own intranet/databases, they have to pay for/lease the technology.

To equate it to RPGs, WOTC allows anyone to put information that is OGL into their own products. But if you want to actually use WOTC trademarked material, you have to have a special license that you negotiate with WOTC to get.

 

[rangerjohn]

I'm about three months into using Gmail and it works really well. I've got a few invites left if anyone wants one.

It would be daft to expect that Google are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts, but they're certainly not going to be any more power hungry or money grabbing than the owners of Hotmail, for example.

I like the way you can organise your mail by conversation, and apply labels to emails for archiving. It's really clever. Plus in the three months I've been using it I'm only up to 2% of my limit and haven't deleted a thing.

I guess the real lesson is that if it's important you should keep a backup. *sets off hypocrisy alarm*

Could you send one of those invites my way? My current address is ranger_32202@yahoo.com

 

[Halivar]

Automated searching of your personal mail to match you to a product and provide advertising.

Key word here is automated. It is not done by a human. You mail processed, key terms picked out, and ads displayed. Processing your mail word-by-word and picking stuff out is something all mail servers do, anyhow; especially if you have Bayesian spam filtering.

Google retains the right to read your personal e-mail and may report suspicious activity to the government via the Patriot Act.

All ISP's can and do read your personal e-mail. That t-shirt at ThinkGeek.com that says, "I read your e-mail" is only half-joking. If it makes you feel better, the hundreds of thousands of people who use GMail decrease the likelihood that your e-mail is being randomly snooped and read. As for making your e-mail available to the Feds; the Patriot Act requires them to.

Google retains all your personal mail even should you delete your account, they get to keep your private e-mail for as long as they want to keep it on the hard drive.

This is standard industry practice, believe it or not. The moral? If you have anything really important to say, say it in person.

 

[Dimwhit]

It's not a matter of having something to hide. I have no desire for other people to read communications between family and friends. No one but my wife should read what I write her etc.

Nobody reads your email in gmail. It's automated. Since Google made a big deal about it, if they ever got caught having people read through the email, it would kill their business, which is very large and profitable.

Heck, I think it's more likely that someone at Microsoft is reading users' hotmail than Google reading people's gmail.

 

[Black Omega]

I think you worry too much about privacy in this case if you favor Hotmail over Gmail. Or Perhaps not enough.

The MSN Sites/Services may contain e-mail services, bulletin board services, chat areas, news groups, forums, communities, personal web pages, calendars, photo albums, file cabinets and/or other message or communication facilities designed to enable you to communicate with others (collectively, "Communication Services").

Microsoft has no obligation to monitor the Communication Services. However, Microsoft reserves the right to review materials posted to a Communication Service and to remove any materials in its sole discretion. Microsoft reserves the right to terminate your access to any or all of the Communication Services at any time, without notice, for any reason whatsoever.
Microsoft reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as Microsoft deems necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, or to edit, refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, in Microsoft's sole discretion.

Hotmail does the same stuff as Gmail.

 

[Angcuru]

I just use the comcast account I get for using their IP service and that works fine for me.

That thing about G-Mail and reading of your personal e-mail is true though. But they mostly do word-relation stuff to narrow it down before they go reading through anyone's mail. For example, if you use the words Bush and Explosion in the same letter, it'd probably get a look-see. So the people monitering this stuff will spend a good while looking at landscapers' G-mail. Bah.