Google today announced that it will stop scanning the emails of its free Gmail users for the purpose of delivering personalized ads later this year.

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If you've recently received a lot of emails about photography or cameras, for example, currently Google may show you a deal from a local camera store that it thinks might be interesting to you. On the other hand, if you've reported those emails as spam, then Google would take steps not to show those ads.

Google users may still see personalized ads while using Gmail and the company's other services, depending on their account settings, but the contents of a user's inbox will no longer factor into the ads that are shown.

Tags: Gmail, Google

Top Rated Comments

826317 Avatar
100 months ago
I still don't trust Google.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
100 months ago
Many years ago I had my Gmail hacked because I stupidly used the same password on a few websites (not all) and this Ubuntu forum I used to frequent before becoming a Mac user was hacked and they used that to access my Gmail. This was before two-step and stuff like that. And apparently my backup email, which was Yahoo back then, had shut down my email because I hadn't used it for so long. I couldn't find anyone at Google or anywhere on their site that could help me.

It was around that time that I was getting into Macs and iPhones and I had the realization that if you're not paying for it in some way, you're the product being sold. I think this was also around the time Google started doing creepy stuff like this and becoming more invasive with tracking, throwing their "don't be evil" motto to the wind, as well as blatantly copying the iPhone functionality in their new Android OS. I started removing myself from everything Google, such as Docs and Calendar that I used all the time, and moved everything over to Mobile Me when that came out. It was a bit of a cluster, but I liked paying for it instead of selling my soul to the devil, and it has gotten a lot better over the years. I just can't trust Google to not betray my trust or to have my back if something goes wrong.

That realization led to me eventually shutting down things like FaceBook, as I realized that I was just giving them all of this information for free so they could make money off of me while massively wasting my time. I wish there were a paid social network that doesn't have all that crap, but the nature of people and getting them to part with their cash means that you'd never get the network big enough to be worthwhile. They tried that with app.net a few years ago and it failed.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bob Zimmerman Avatar
100 months ago
Ok, what's the catch ?
There isn't one directly. They are trying to sell Gmail as an "enterprise solution" to companies which don't want to run their own email infrastructure. It's part of what they call "G Suite". Corporate customers' email has never been scanned, but there has been a lot of confusion from them. To remove the confusion, the G Suite team pressured the Gmail team to remove content scanning entirely.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
slimothy Avatar
100 months ago
Still won't use. Such a creepy company.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
100 months ago
Google is garbage look at Nexus Pixel the next update will be in Oktober 2018!
I disagree. The Pixel was surprisingly a really nice phone with a solid build. I think Google did a nice job with the Pixel and it offered some nice features.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EdT Avatar
100 months ago
Ok, what's the catch ?
After enough new people start using Google Mail they'll revert back to their old policy.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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