Author: Lowell Heddings / Source: How-To Geek
There’s a story spreading in the news today that Google is letting companies scan through your email and sell the data, but this is really misleading. So what’s actually going on?
The way the story is framed makes it sound like something very nefarious is being allowed.
Google is letting companies scan my Gmail account? What?Google Inc. told lawmakers it continues to allow other companies to scan and share data from Gmail accounts, responding to questions raised on Capitol Hill about privacy and potential misuse of the information contained in users’ emails.
As usual, the reality is a lot different than the headlines, and Google isn’t doing anything wrong here.
What’s Actually Happening?
There are tons of services that you sign up for, give them access to your email account, and they will scan through and find your receipts and bills and help save you money, or find tracking numbers and help you track incoming shipments.
And there are other plugins for Gmail that provide all sorts of different services, from helping with reminders to unsubscribing you from unwanted email.
Because you are giving access to your email account, these services can read, scan, and otherwise go through your email to provide their service. They are even allowed to bundle up data on everybody and sell that data, as long as they remove all personally identifiable information, like your name, street address, IP, and other similar data.
But… this is all your choice. If you want to give something access to your email, that’s your choice.
In the real world, imagine renting an apartment from a company that has a digital lock on the door and then giving the unlock code to a cleaning service, or Amazon, or a salesperson. Does that mean that the apartment complex is illegally letting a salesperson into your apartment? Of course not, because you’re the one that gave out the code.
To Be Clear: You Should NOT Give Anybody Access to Your Email, Ever
Yes, it’s your choice to give some company access to your email when signing up for a service or app.
It’s also a really dumb choice. Don’t do it.
There’s an obvious problem of having your personal data swept up into a massive database somewhere that is being…
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