Google's Gmail Slammed By Privacy Advocates

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

07 April 2004

Internet search giant, Google's plans to offer a free e-mail service intended to rival those provided by Yahoo! and Microsoft have come under fire over privacy concerns.

Although the intended Gmail service will offer 100 times more storage than its rivals, this will come at a price - namely targeted advertising referring to the content of e-mails, and the retention of e-mails on Google's systems even after users have deleted them from their accounts.

Privacy International director, Simon Davies has expressed outrage at the prospect of e-mail content being accessed by the firm, and has lodged an official complaint with the UK's Information Commissioner.

"This service is dangerous from a security and privacy perspective," he announced, continuing:

"This is not just 'buyer beware'. Consumers should be aware that there's a vast violation of European law occurring here."

Google has stressed that the e-mails would be scanned by computers for the purposes of targetting the advertising, and would not be accessed by human operators without express consent from the account holder.

However, concern has also been expressed with regard to the company's ability to link the details supplied during the Gmail registration process with information on internet surfing activities, via the placing of a single cookie.

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