I think I updated this entry four times.. trying to get rid of weird characters surrounding apostrophes. I wrote in Word first, so maybe it was something to do with that. Anyway, I realized a part of my post didn't make it in, hence another update.

A quick summary of my weekend:
Friday: Did not go to Happy Hour with work chums. I think I might need to next time around, whenever that is. I keep declining lately. That evening, (e:ladycroft) and I went to chill with friends.. Avantica, Manish and Bernard (a little birthday celebration). Awesome people.
Saturday: went for a super long walk, played outside, hiked around the Fort, walked along the beach. I elected to stay in that evening, for school reasons. Never again, haha. But I guess it was good, as I knew if I went out, I was going to be out all night. I just got over a cold, I didn't want to push it and screw myself for getting school work done.
Sunday: made my way to Spot. Enjoyed the company of (e:joshua) and (e:jason).. followed by (e:ladycroft) and (e:jenks). I left to stretch my legs.. took a walk down elmwood, stopped at Sahara Grill for Falafel and grape leaves to go. What a warmish night.. I could have kept on going.

I am not ready for this weekend to be over. Not at all.

I am ready for some new fun. Any ideas? Any takers?

The depth and degree of my interests have barely been touched upon here. I consider all topics open territory for consideration and discussion. I will research and write about anything and have many areas that I have either written an essay or a small blurb. However, I note that there is some, but not much evidence of that here.

I recall when I first joined (e:strip), that I was not sure if I would bring writing from other sites to this one. Primarily, politics, social issues and random life observations are the basis to my writing. On (e:strip) there has been some variation, but nothing like I have in the recent past. No reason really. Timing, efforts placed on course work and exploration of topics (yeh, the emo stuff-only recently explored) may have led me astray.

I get the itch to write on or add to the topics that float around here, especially recently, but I just haven't. Shame shame.

Tonight I will. (e:paul) made a post about Google's privacy policy. [inlink]paul,4152[/inlink] At other times as well. Not always Google, but other site privacy policies. Privacy rights and more specifically, the privacy policy of sites intrigue me. As with other topics, I have written nothing of privacy rights here, yet it is a source of endless fascination for me. Note that is a theme in my list of links.

Google's privacy policy is one that I have been following. The controversy surrounding privacy policies seemed to escalate with the introduction of Gmail. I became a beta tester two years ago, when just a select group of people were provided an invite (that people were selling on ebay, if I recall correctly-that I would have done if I had known that the invites were in demand-easy moola, dammit). Eventually the invites were provided to more and more people, although still not available to the public without Google initiating the invite. I believe that within the past six months it has become fully available to anyone. In the past year or so, I have kept articles on the ever growing Google and the organizational changes. making mental notes, joting down thoughts. As Gmail became bigger, Google began to get greedy.. and a bit nefarious, ironically.

See, I take pleasure in dissecting a topic and see where it leads me. I am open to the information I find and the story that I uncover. I seek no absolutes. As I always lead my discussions, the purpose is to challenge myself: learn and unlearn. That may be the only thing I hold strongly to. The following is written in a more typical Carey fashion and focuses on Google's Gmail. (Carey fashion = research, citation and verbage)


This report considers privacy issues faced by Googles email service, Gmail, a summary of assigned articles supplemented with additional relevant research and a brief write up of this writers opinion and experience with Gmail.

Google released its email product, Gmail in April 2004 to a select number of users. Gmail is a free web-based e-mail service that began by offering one-gigabyte (1000 megabytes) of e-mail storage to users, now, well over two-gigabytes. This is a significant amount of storage space considering that at the time of induction, most email services provide just 100-500 megabytes of storage. Due to this enormous amount of storage capacity and therefore increased competitive pressure, other web-based e-mail services have (or plan to) increase their storage offerings. For example, banner advertising supported Yahoo! has increased it storage capacity from 100 megabytes to 250 megabytes to 1000 megabytes.

Accessible through any browser, the user can send and retrieve email anywhere. Gmail provides the ability to search for specific messages. Messages do not need to be deleted to keep within storage boundaries; instead they can be archived for later retrieval. Using the same technology that Google uses as a search engine, Gmail provides quick retrieval of old incoming and outgoing email. The program automatically organizes successively related messages into conversational threads. This promotes easy following of content. As long as the account is maintained (used at least once every nine months) Google will store data indefinitely. Gmail's other distinctive features include a labeling system, a spam reporter and a system for filtering your mail as it comes into the users inbox.

To make Gmail profitable, Google will sell advertising and deliver it to targeted users. Gmail will often place a few highly relevant, text ads next to the message in an email. The company's software will analyze users' messages to determine advertising matches and will insert complimentary ads in email messages. Some have raised concerns about privacy issues, and the intrusiveness of the ads. Google founder, Larry Page insisted that there would "be strict safeguards in place to protect user information, and that the ads would not be annoying. Google founders claim that "although there will be some advertising within messages, the program will be free of more traditional advertising, such as banners or pop up ads".

Besides advertisement links, links to related web pages that the user may find of interest are also included in the Gmail format. These ads and links are displayed automatically using the same technology that powers Googles AdSense system. This system delivers targeted ads to thousands of sites across the web. Computers scan the text on a given page, perform a mathematical analysis on it and match it to ads in Googles extensive database. Only computers "read" the content of the users email. Google believes they are providing a great service to people and that the issues surrounding privacy are overblown.

Google initially came up with the Gmail concept to address the growing problem of email overload. E-mail overload is caused in part by the inability to search through email quickly and efficiently. Although there are other programs that tackle email overload with email client add-ons but, according to Google, they do not have the market presence to promote themselves in the same way that Google can.

"Gmail provides Google with an opportunity to enter a fresh market, currently dominated by other Internet companies. However even as the benefits of personalization were widely advocated, Web e-mail vendors have considered such a step to be very risky. Many operate under the assumption that highly targeted personalization based on e-mail content has the potential to infuriate users, who may not believe assurances that the automated ads do not violate their privacy"
It is the issue of privacy that has the public and multiple civil liberty groups actively concerned. Some of these issues and recommendations are outlined below:

• Gmail violates the privacy rights of non-subscribers. First, subscribers consent to "content extraction" and analysis of their email. Non-subscribers who email a Gmail user have "content extraction" performed on their email even though they have not consented to have their communications monitored, nor may they even be aware that their communications are being analyzed or that a profile is being compiled on them. Because the non-subscribers do not have the same knowledge and information provided to them as subscribers do, subsequently their privacy is at risk. Subscribers to Gmail also face risks to their privacy.

• According to the privacy policy, "We serve highly relevant ads and other information as part of the service using our unique content-targeting technology". While the advertisements and related links are relatively innocuous, it is the idea that it is the computerized scanning of email content that decides what links will be incorporated.

• Google Gmail maintains a back up system of all data. The privacy policy warns that messages, even if deleted, may still be stored in the system long after users have closed their account. It is unknown if this information would ever be retrieved, intentionally or unintentionally, and what harm could ensue.

• The unlimited period for data retention poses unnecessary risks of accidental information leakage and purposeful misuse. Google's policies on retaining data and correlating it between business units are problematic, lack clarity and are too broad in scope. Google should set clear limits on how long it will retain user account, e-mail and transactional data, and provide clear written policies about data sharing. Due to the nature of information that businesses send by email, ie; financial dealings, intellectual property, legal documentation etc, it is recommended that businesses do not use any free email service. It is not necessarily secure and may be vulnerable to hack intrusion.

"Don't be evil"
Google's mission is to "organize the world's information and make it universally useful and accessible. For many people, email contains valuable information that can be difficult to retrieve. Google created Gmail to help with that".

The privacy issues surrounding Googles Gmail is only a small part of the bigger worldwide picture. The same patent that Google uses for its Gmail, other sources could use the same. Advertisers are permitted to put targeted ads on emails based on content (patent 20040059712)! Technology and how people decide to use it and the errors that will occur cannot be controlled strictly through laws and governance. Responsibility, accountability and best practices of the user and inventor combine to uphold privacy. People can choose not to use a service if they feel their privacy is at risk. In regards to Googles Gmail, where the buy in factor is the large information storage capacity, there are alternatives; one just has to be able to find them. In this writers research, email services were found that had a comparable storage allotment, free of charge and did not employ content scanning. Three are provided as follows:

www.walla.com free, offers 1GB and no content scanning
www.spymac.com free or variable price range, 3+ GB, no content scanning
www.adventuremail.com free (after $2.00 activation fee), 2GB, no content scanning
www.yahoo.com free, 1GB

In the initial stages of research complilation, Gmail was available through invitation only. As a long term user of the Google search engine, this writer was targeted for beta testing and signed up for Gmail (initially for the purpose of research and now for some personal use). The layout of the system is easy to manipulate and the "Gmail notifye" allows messages to be viewed without opening a browser. With the questionable content scanning, this writer sent test messages to and from myself using Gmail and other email systems. Ads and related links did appear in some of the email. This writer forwarded a computer related web subscription from a yahoo account to the Gmail account, in which various links pertaining to computers were included. Personal test messages with a variety of "key words" were included to determine what text would be targeted. The last line had words related to trucks and cars. Ads and related links to car dealerships and SUV information were included. This writer went further into sending various levels of "inappropriate" messages, in which no ads or related links were included. This was a concern of mine and further research into Google provided information that the ads and links are "family friendly".

I have continued to use Gmail for personal use, although primarily for electronic subscriptions. It is disturbing to see the continued ad targets within the emails. I am currently using and am pleased with Yahoo! email system and its search engine. Although somewhat concerned about the privacy issues surrounding Gmail, I am more concerned with privacy issues that surround the use of intentional acts of breach of privacy (spy software used in business or personal use). Currently I do not provide anything of concern in my online use. However, as that changes, I will have to reconsider the free email platform. In the meantime, as more information becomes available, Gmail attains a critical mass, and updates its privacy policy, this writer will continue to evaluate the information.

What do you think, is Google Gmail as evil as the civil liberty groups are making it out to be?

Sources of research:
www.feeeds.com
www.google.com
www.google.gmail.com
www.gmailistoocreepy.com

www.googlewatch.org