Another reminder of the difference between Gmail and your own company email – PRIVACY!

Google is rolling out a new Gmail update in the next couple of days, where any Google+ user can send you email to your Gmail inbox.  They don’t get your email address, unless you reply to their email, but they get access to your Gmail inbox.  Google is providing settings where you can limit who can send you these emails, and optionally even set it to no one.  But it is a reminder that this is Gmail, not your personal company/website email address which is completely private, and you have control over all of it.

This new Gmail update most likely will add more fuel to users already protesting Gmail’s policies, including Google’s scanning of private mail to sell ads, the topic of the class action lawsuit filed in May 2013.  The lawsuit claims Google “unlawfully opens up, reads, and acquires the content of people’s private email messages” in violation of California’s privacy laws and federal wiretapping statutes.  And furthermore that Google scans emails sent to any of the 425 million active Gmail users from non-Gmail users who never agreed to Google’s terms.
(Google Pleads Its Case For Scanning Your Emails To Help Sell Ads)

It does take money to pay for the servers that host all those emails.  Google pays for them via ads.  The ads become more successful when they are tailored to topics the users may be interested in, and they find those topics by their automatic email scanners.  The issue is, is this fair, or right?  Post what you think in the comments below.