JD on EP

It won't really matter how or where your email is stored if some politicians get their way regarding data retention laws for ISPs.

i wonder if "Do no evil" is still part of the mission or if they dropped that part?

If Google is going to predict future jobs for me by looking at my mail - I'll be an online poker playing Viagra salesman with the secret to attract beautiful women... AND I can save you 75% on your next toner cartridge purchase!

[jd sez: Made me laugh, thanks. :) ]

In your statement try replacing 'Google' with 'Adobe' and also replace 'Gmail' with 'Apollo'

In fact any rich internet application or whatever people are calling it these days can act as a big brother type of application constantly data mining and generating useful statistics on the behavior of its users. Google is just not demonstrating any pretense of what it's applications are capable of.

[jd sez: A rhetorical feint. Topic is data-collection, and intentional use of such private data silos about you, me, and everyone else.]

rhetorical feint? No. You are missing the point entirely. Your argument against Gmail can be applied to any web capable application. I'm using Apollo apps for as an example for much needed effect.

[jd sez: Adobe Photoshop does not centralize your actions with those of others.]

Google purportedly collects latent information from personal data. They do no look specifically at your messages.

I think it's inappropriate to confuse the two and to use that confusion as a basis for an argument that Gmail is inherently flawed.

The fact that they are able to look specifically at your messages can be attributed to any application that transmits information over the internet. [legality aside] What prevents AOL from collecting messages over its lines? What prevents flash applications from collecting and archiving data? Similarly, what would prevent Apollo's 'rich' applications to collect the user's information?

@Xiaolei:

You're mixing hypotheticals with reality. You are comparing an existing, hugely popular application, with the potential abilities of Apollo applications that do not exist and that run on a platform that is not yet released.

Of course it is *possible* to track user data with any application that has some network ability. However, Google has explicity stated an intent and business need to collect this data.

Gmail IS inherently flawed for those users who wish not have their email provider track, store, and analyze their personal information.

I believe the "rhetorical feint" is how you attempt to confuse the issue by representing JD's criticism of Google's business practices as a technology argument.

JD's argument, as I see it, was not an idictment of a technology but of an explicity stated business policy.

-steve / Adobe

@Steve

The entire point of Google is to gauge trends, albeit using personal data so they they can build more effective advertising models. That's been the given for years now. There is no debate over this.

I think JD's discomfort is unfounded and carries with it neo-luddite undertones, and in this case technology is of the issue and should be the point of discourse.

Specifically, there's a difference between analyzing latent information and looking at private information of specific individuals.

a program running server side that looks at your emails to direct advertising is not the same as someone looking at your personal emails.

Hey JD, it would be no secret that Google use their own resources for their own recruitment. I was flagged a year and half ago. Of course, that has nothing to do with gmail, which I use. I don't know where the line between caution and paranoia lies. But I reckon for the types of communication I do through gmail, there is little risk of it somehow being used against me. I avoid mention of bombs at all costs (oops, this post was just found by an anti-terrorist spider). If I really need to communicate something important or confidential, I print out a letter, seal it in a stamped envelope and drop into the red box down the street.