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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Google: Gmail users ‘have no legitimate expectation of privacy’

This just in from RT.com: "... Consumer Watchdog has unearthed a July 13, 2013 motion filed by Google’s attorneys with regards to ongoing litigation challenging how the Silicon Valley giant operates its highly popular free email service.

The motion, penned in hopes of having the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismiss a class action complaint against the company, says Gmail users should assume that any electronic correspondence that's passed through Google’s servers can be accessed and used for an array of options, such as selling ads to customers.

"Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient's assistant opens the letter, people who use Web-based email today cannot be surprised if their emails are processed by the recipient's [email provider] in the course of delivery,” the motion reads in part. “Indeed, 'a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties.’"

Privacy issues aside, if you have your government / sensitive e-mail with Google, this presents some interesting issues. Take a closer look at the privacy policy and see what it says for your account.

In the end, Google is free ... but it's not. They're getting theirs.

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