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Old November 26th, 2004, 10:57 PM
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Default Re: GMail Users Please Read

AT, that's not quite what Google does.

They do scan all your Messages, yes, but not necessarily looking for personal information. The bots look for keywords, which then trigger the placement of the text ads on the right side of the screen. It is explicitly stated in their Privacy Policy that no personal data will be sold to third parties, and that no personally identifiable data will be accessed unless required by law (e.g. they get a subpoena for your email). The most they can do is a statistical compilation, things on the order of "X percent of people who regularly get email about Y, also regularly get email about Z". Anything beyond that is a violation of the agreement accepted when joining GMail, and is thus already illegal.

And if you're truly worried about the privacy of email, you shouldn't be using email, period, or, use encryption with everything you send or recieve. But once you get to the point of using encryption, there are better communications options available anyway.
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