Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google's Scanning of Gmail To Deliver Ads May Violate Federal Wiretap Laws

Posted by Soulskill on from the google's-lawyers-must-be-busy-folk dept.

New submitter SpacemanukBEJY.53u writes "In a declaration that could make Google very nervous, a U.S. federal judge on Thursday rebuffed Google's defense of its targeted ad system that scans the content of Gmail. Judge Lucy Koh — who also heard the Apple-Samsung case — found Google's terms and conditions and privacy policy isn't clear to users. Koh subsequently allowed a class-action suit to proceed against the company (official ruling). The plaintiffs in the suit allege Google violates federal and state wiretap laws by scannning the messages sent by non-Gmail and Gmail users."

3 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. Oh for crying out loud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Will this shit die already, this is getting tiring.

    It is an automatic system.

    I bet Microsoft is funding this, AGAIN.

    1. Re:Oh for crying out loud by MozeeToby · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I agree with you to some extent. An algorithm searching for keywords and displaying appropriate ads? I really don't have a problem with that. Where I do have an issue is where the information gleaned goes into a big database that Google has on me. A big database that can be subpoenaed, or leaked, or stolen. A database that slowly but surely includes information from nearly every act of communication and internet usage. Even if I were to opt out of Google's services, the fact is if I send an email it's likely going to a gmail address, if I browse the internet there are likely Google servers providing parts of the page.

    2. Re:Oh for crying out loud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You beat me to it.

      So I guess the question for everyone is should Google (and others) be allowed to scan communications if they state clearly in their EULA what they are doing and why? Does the answer change when the communications include a parties that didn't accept the EULA?

      "Scanning" can mean very different things. GMail scans and extract the meaning of the communication (as best it can and it is getting quite good) *and* then files this in the permanent marketing profile they have on you and which they continue to build on and reuse. So they are extracting, saving, using and building a database of meaningful content from your email and about you. Other forms of scanning is without actually extracting the content itself, and not storing it in a database on you. This is clearly not exactly the same.

      You can still think this ruling against Google is silly, but we should be precise on distinctions like that.