Originally posted by dfm65
what's Gmail?
Google mail. Last I heard, they scan the content of your e-mails so they can target you with specific ads. Also, there were issues about your e-mails not being really erased when you delete them, but that may have been ironed out.
At any rate, no thanks. The whole "invites" thing is a gimmick.
-f
Originally posted by fierceDon't think that's totally true.
Google mail. Last I heard, they scan the content of your e-mails so they can target you with specific ads. Also, there were issues about your e-mails not being really erased when you delete them, but that may have been ironed out.
At any rate, no thanks. The whole "invites" thing is a gimmick.
-f
But anyway, Google mail gives you (If I'm correct) an enormous amount of storage, 2GB! 🙂
O.
Originally posted by LivingLegend
Don't think that's totally true.
But anyway, Google mail gives you (If I'm correct) an enormous amount of storage, 2GB! 🙂
O.
Which part do you not think is true?
And who the hell would need even close to that amount of space? My Yahoo mail account is only at 2% after four years. Personally, I'm not willing to sacrifice personal privacy for all the GB they want to throw at me.
Google is quickly becoming part of the evil empire. On top of it all, they filter content on their search engine now.
-f
Originally posted by fierceThat is certainly true. They should end the beta right now and make it public. It's as good as finished, and everyone who gets an account has 6 invites in no time, so that feature is kinda void.
The whole "invites" thing is a gimmick.
Originally posted by fierce
Personally, I'm not willing to sacrifice personal privacy for all the GB they want to throw at me.
That's the thing I don't understand. Everyone complains about losing their privacy. So what? Do you really think they are interested in reading what you write? There is way too much email being sent and received with GMail for doing that. And as long as you don't plan any terrorist attacks you have nothing to worry about.
And so what if they display specific ads? Have you seen the amount of ads you get on Hotmail? I think GMail were very modest with it. In most mail you don't even get them, only when they spot a specific keyword.
BTW, I have two invites left 😀
Originally posted by pidermanGmail are still introducing new features all the time. I quite like the fact that you have to be invited. It meant that I got a really good name - i.e. not having to stick a bunch of numbers at the end etc.
That is certainly true. They should end the beta right now and make it public. It's as good as finished, and everyone who gets an account has 6 invites in no time, so that feature is kinda void.
Originally posted by fierce
[b]Personally, I'm not willing to sacrifice personal privacy for all the GB they want to throw at me.
That's the t ...[text shortened]... don't even get them, only when they spot a specific keyword.
BTW, I have two invites left 😀[/b]
I agree about the privacy thing though - if people are sad enough to want to sit around and read my e-mails, let them. There not particularly exciting! Plus, any other e-mail address you have is just as easily monitired as gmail is. After a while you don't even notice the ads - except occassionally i check them out as the advert monitor can really get the wrong end of a converstaion and direct you to some strange places!!!!!
I feel like Bill Murray.
Not in a stuck in Japan as a once-famous actor now having to resort to Bond impressions to sell the alcoholic drink that I'm advertising because I've sunk to such a low point that the only company that can keep me sane is that of a similarly disillusioned wife of a philandering photographer kind of way, no, not that, but more in a I've seen this exact thread three times now in recent weeks kind of way.
Someone posts they've got gmail invites to give away.
Someone then posts "What's gmail?".
Someone then posts it's really bad because they can read all your emails.
Someone then posts either a defence or "I don't really care too much about that anyway".
Someone then doesn't post, because they can't be bothered to enter into an argument about it.
Then the thread dies and goes to heaven. I mean page 2.
Nobody said that they felt like Bill Murray in the previous threads though, so perhaps there's hope yet 😉
I didn't intimate that some dude at Google is sitting around reading your e-mails. The difference between GMail and something like Yahoo is policy. Once people are largely desensitized to having the content of their e-mails scanned, it will become policy of the other providers as well. You give an inch on these privacy issues, the corporations will take a mile. I am of the belief that you have to draw a line in the sand and say "To here, and no further" -- before the erosion is allowed to begin.
-f
When I compare GMail and Yahoo! policies, there are not much differences.
Yahoo! states that it "uses information for the following general purposes: to customize the advertising and content you see, fulfill your requests for products and services, improve our services, contact you, conduct research, and provide anonymous reporting for internal and external clients." So it too customizes your ads, only you don't know it as well as with GMail.
Furthermore it collects about as much info as GMail (apart from the contents of your mail of course), and may even "combine information about you that we have with information we obtain from business partners or other companies."
To top it all up Yahoo! states that it may give your personal info to "trusted partners who work on behalf of or with Yahoo! under confidentiality agreements.", while GMail says it will "never sell, rent or share your personal information, including your Gmail address or email content, with any third parties for marketing purposes without your express permission."
I think actually that GMail has a better policy for not sharing your info, while Yahoo! does.
http://privacy.yahoo.com/
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/privacy.html
Originally posted by fiercethanks
Google mail. Last I heard, they scan the content of your e-mails so they can target you with specific ads. Also, there were issues about your e-mails not being really erased when you delete them, but that may have been ironed out.
At any rate, no thanks. The whole "invites" thing is a gimmick.
-f
Originally posted by pidermanYour post here is a bit misleading. The "information" Yahoo uses isn't the content of your e-mail. You allude to this fact later in your e-mail, but the initial impression is that Yahoo does the same -- which it doesn't.
When I compare GMail and Yahoo! policies, there are not much differences.
Yahoo! states that it "uses information for the following general purposes: to customize the advertising and content you see, fulfill your requests for products ...[text shortened]... rivacy.yahoo.com/
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/privacy.html
I don't mind doing business with an entity that knows my name/address, but I don't appreciate the content of my personal correspondence being monitored, whether manually or mechanically.
Imagine two post offices:
One post office, called Yahoo, will share identifying information with companies it does business with, so long as they pledge (cough, cough) to treat it in a certain manner. Yahoo does not open and read the letters you mail. At this post office, you get a mailbox of decent size that will meet most of your needs.
The other post office, called GMail, agrees to never share (cough, cough -- and you would know?) your personal information to other companies. This post office opens and reads every single letter you drop into the box to be sent. The GMail post office gives you a garage for your letters as your mailbox.
The Yahoo post office, in this case, operates basically like the US Postal Service does now. The GMail post office operates like the KGB.
Anyway, it's your personal choice, but I for one am not going to compromise the integrity of my personal communications for the lure of a larger mailbox that I will never need. Blissful ignorance may look appealing at first, but it eventually comes with a price.
-f
Originally posted by fierceScary picture🙂 Probably I'm short-sighted, but I very much enjoy my Gmail.
I didn't intimate that some dude at Google is sitting around reading your e-mails. The difference between GMail and something like Yahoo is policy. Once people are largely desensitized to having the content of their e-mails scanned, it will become policy of the other providers as well. You give an inch on these privacy issues, the corporations will take a ...[text shortened]... the sand and say "To here, and no further" -- before the erosion is allowed to begin.
-f