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California Senate Passes Preemptive Strike Against Gmail
Technically Inept writes "The California Senate has passed a measure to force Google to limit search capabilities on Gmail to real-time, with no records. What if I want them to search my mail in advance?"
Italics mine.
At least Google is up front about this, unlike your bank, credit card company, tax preparer, and medical records transcriber. This kind of notification is what California should have passed.
[Yes I know this isn't exactly the point the parent was getting at. Sue me.]
OK, genius, how much power does it take to search 1GB of email in anything close to real time? Now, multiply that by the number of users GMail is likely to have... I doubt even Google has enough power to do this and provide the product to both advertisers and users they've promised.
It's been done.
Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them
The text of the bill is here. The tracking information for the bill is here.
For everyone wondering, the bill explicitly allows reading email for filtering spam and viruses.
Google has stated many times that it will never serve pornographic or tasteless ads, through GMail or Adwords or any other means.
> What's different about Google other than they explicitly tell you they're going to do it.
The difference is, that Google and other free email services have a commercial interest in it, while said third parties, with all probability, have not.
Creating the infrastructure to scan emails requires an investment, which has to pay off.
Those third parties are providing the bandwith for several parties. I assume that most companies wouldn't be very happy about having their connection tapped. So, not scanning any traffic is in their own commercial interest.
The legal implications by having the ability to scan emails and/or traffic are another reason they have no interest.
OTOH, Google (and others) can easily use that profiled data to generate revenue by targeting ads on pages they generate. Said third parties have no such mean.
Google and others are merely prohibited from profiling. They can still generate revenue from targeting ads by real-time data, like they do with their search-engine.
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
Here is the text from the actual bill SB 1801:
.
BILL NUMBER: SB 1822 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 20, 2004
INTRODUCED BY Senator Figueroa
FEBRUARY 20, 2004
An act to add Section 1798.87 to Title
1.81.15 (commencing with Section 1798.88) to Part 4 of Division 3 of
the Civil Code, relating to privacy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1822, as amended, Figueroa. Privacy: social security
numbers: sales online communications
Existing law protects the privacy of personal information,
including customer records and social security numbers. Existing law
prohibits a person or entity located in California from initiating
or advertising in unsolicited commercial e-mail advertisements, as
defined, and prohibits a person or entity not located in California
from initiating or advertising in unsolicited commercial e-mail
advertisements sent to a California e-mail address.
This bill would prohibit a provider of e-mail or instant messaging
services, as defined, that serves California customers, from
reviewing or evaluating the content of a customer's e-mail or instant
messages, except as specified. The bill would permit a provider of
e-mail or instant messaging services to review and evaluate the
content of a customer's outgoing e-mail or instant messages with the
customer's consent, and would permit a provider to review and
evaluate the content of incoming e-mail or instant messages only from
another subscriber to the same service and only when that subscriber
has consented to the procedure.
Existing law prohibits a person or entity, except as specified,
from publicly posting or displaying an individual's social security
number, and from printing that social security number on a card
required for the individual to access products or services.
This bill would provide that a person or entity that sells a
social security number is strictly liable to the person to whom the
social security number applies for any and all damages that directly
or indirectly result from the sale. The bill would except specified
transactions from its provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1798.87 is added to the Civil Code, to
SECTION 1. Title 1.81.15 (commencing with Section 1798.88) is
added to Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code, to read:
TITLE 1.81.15 PRIVACY OF ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS
1798.88. For the purpose of this title:
(a) "Electronic mail" or "e-mail" means an electronic message that
is sent to an e-mail address and transmitted between two or more
telecommunications devices, computers, or electronic devices capable
of receiving electronic messages, whether or not the message is
converted to hard copy format after receipt or is viewed upon
transmission or stored for later retrieval. "Electronic mail" or
"e-mail" includes electronic messages that are transmitted through a
local, regional, or global computer network.
(b) "Instant messaging service" means a service that alerts a
person when another person is online and allows them to communicate
with each other in current time in private, online areas.
(c) "Provider of electronic mail or instant messaging service"
means any person, including an Internet service provider, that is an
intermediary in sending or receiving electronic mail or instant
messages or that provides to users of the electronic mail or instant
messaging service the ability to send or receive electronic mail or
instant messages.
(d) "Spam" means an unsolicited commercial e-mail advertisement
State Sen. Liz Figueroa:
Capital Office:
(916) 445-6671
Fax (916) 327-2433
District Office:
(510) 413-5960
Fax (510) 413-5965
E-mail: Senator.Figueroa@sen.ca.gov