[PLUG-TALK] Google asserts you have no expectation of privacy in your email
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
Wed Aug 14 16:01:18 UTC 2013
Functionally, I agree with Google here.
To push the postal metaphor a bit further, I'd say that using a
service like gmail or Yahoo is like sending all your correspondence on
postcards. It's unlikely that postal employees would be interested
in what you have to say, but there's no real obstacle to them reading
it.
If you want to put e-mail into a security envelope, use S/MIME or PGP
for your messages. That's true regardless of where the messages are
stored. Plain-text e-mail messages might as well be postcards to every
router through which they pass.
My disagreement with Google comes at the policy level ("you trust us
with your messages; of course, we might read them"), but my opinion
means nothing to big data corporations.
--
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
45°38' N, 122°6' W
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