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Thread: Gmail and security of stored emails

  1. #1
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    Gmail and security of stored emails

    So having singed up for a gsuite account I've finally managed to upload all my emails going back to 1997 (when it was a demon email address!). Actually I was surprised it came to so little, less than 10gig. Anyway am I being paranoid if I worry about the security of the stored emails? I mean google reading them. I don't mean in the process of sending and receiving which is covered by loads of enhanced security like TLS and other acronyms that I don't understand ;-) I mean the plain text stored ones on their server. You hear all these stories of companies reading and using the details in your emails... are google the sort of company to start reading all your stored emails for words with, for example, hijack or bomb in them - as extreme examples - but non the less there are some emails that I do NOT want leaking?

  2. #2
    I don't think someone reads emails. Google sure indexes your emails via algorithms so you can search them and they can create your advertising profile, but beyond that I doubt they interested in you personally.

  3. #3
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    I have no idea but I wouldn't be surprised. To me as a lay person, email is potentially unsecure.

    Whether your emails are any more "interesting" to wrong doers, only you know!

    I'll be interested to read answers from experts in the field.

  4. #4
    Master alfat33's Avatar
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    They are also likely to be using your emails to help develop new algorithms and products, by scanning them with an artificial intelligence or machine learning engine.

    It’s unlikely anyone is reading them jut because Google hold so many, although Amazon recently had to admit that some conversations recorded by Alexa are listened to.

    If you have emailed the design of a revolutionary new search engine recently, I’d delete that one from Google. :).

  5. #5
    Grand Master VDG's Avatar
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    It's more or less given that your emails will be indexed, processed/mined for PII and stored for the eternity, but I very much doubt Google would grass you to LEA for an odd reference to terrorism, violence, bdsm etc It usually works other way around - they would grant access to your data in case it's requested by Police/Youknowwhom. Personally, I would be more concerned about Google inadvertently leaking my emails to the open web due to some numpty misconfiguring one of their severs or due to a hack. Is backing up your stash to a NAS or removable HDD is not an option?
    Fas est ab hoste doceri

  6. #6
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    All your emails will have been indexed & will be used to personalise adverts you receive. My bigger concern would be around email database backup; is this offered by Google? It's the reason I use Outlook Exchange as I always have the local .ost/pst file which I can restore if ever I needed to.

  7. #7
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    No it won't be ad scanned as there is a difference between Gsuite and the free Gmail. The latter being a business product with the associated security

    Google Cloud does not scan your data or email in G Suite Services for advertising purposes. Our automated systems scan and index your data to provide you with your services and to protect your data, such as to perform spam and malware detection, to sort email for features like Priority Inbox and to return fast, powerful search results when users search for information in their accounts. The situation is different for our free offerings and the consumer space. For information on our free consumer products, be sure to check Google's Privacy and Terms page for more consumer tools and information relating to consumer privacy.

  8. #8
    Master alfat33's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by reecie View Post
    No it won't be ad scanned as there is a difference between Gsuite and the free Gmail. The latter being a business product with the associated security
    Google claim not to ad scan both Gsuite and free Gmail. They changed the policy for Gmail in 2017. The reality is that they don’t need to ad scan your emails as they know so much about you anyway through the rest of your activity. If that bothers you, don’t use Chrome and change your search engine to DuckDuckGo as a start.

    Personally I don’t trust a lot of what Google claim. I don’t think that the culture of the company has changed a lot since the days of using Street View camera cars to copy personal data from home wifi networks.

  9. #9
    Grand Master Carlton-Browne's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by alfat33 View Post
    Google claim not to ad scan both Gsuite and free Gmail. They changed the policy for Gmail in 2017. The reality is that they don’t need to ad scan your emails as they know so much about you anyway through the rest of your activity. If that bothers you, don’t use Chrome and change your search engine to DuckDuckGo as a start.

    Personally I don’t trust a lot of what Google claim. I don’t think that the culture of the company has changed a lot since the days of using Street View camera cars to copy personal data from home wifi networks.
    That's pretty much my view as well.
    In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.

  10. #10
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    ISTR googles motto used to be 'do no harm' or some such.... I'm not sure about that any more. I wouldn't trust them as far as whatever!

  11. #11
    Grand Master hogthrob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by solwisesteve View Post
    ISTR googles motto used to be 'do no harm' or some such.... I'm not sure about that any more. I wouldn't trust them as far as whatever!
    It was "Don't be evil". They stopped using it a few years ago.

    To the OP - they already have your mail, so they've already done whatever they're going to do.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by solwisesteve View Post
    ISTR googles motto used to be 'do no harm' or some such.... I'm not sure about that any more. I wouldn't trust them as far as whatever!
    Quote Originally Posted by hogthrob View Post
    It was "Don't be evil". They stopped using it a few years ago.
    A company setting themselves such a low bar probably tells you all you need to know! They might as well have said "We try not to kill anyone".

  13. #13
    Master alfat33's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by David_D View Post
    A company setting themselves such a low bar probably tells you all you need to know! They might as well have said "We try not to kill anyone".
    They allegedly thought about using that but their employees realised that also wasn’t true at the time :)

    https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/01/go...blic-backlash/

    I think they dropped ‘Don’t Be Evil’ after conceding that they were working with the Chinese government on having a censored version of Google behind the Great Firewall.

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