http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/10/07/google-can-read-your-emailed-bills-and-remind-you-to-pay-up/?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_tech Google Can Read Your Emailed Bills and Remind You to Pay Up
Google Now can remind you about the money you owe by reading emailed bills. Google *Google* <http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=GOOGL> *GOOGL -0.42%* <http://public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=GOOGL?mod=inlineTicker> already scans users’ Gmail email accounts to show more relevant ads. Now the Internet giant is scouring emails for bills. The company *said Tuesday* <https://plus.google.com/+google/posts/45Nbm9PE4JB#+google/posts/45Nbm9PE4JB> that its Google Search mobile app can now remind users when bills are due by spotting emailed bills in their Gmail accounts and automatically reading the important details. Users can tap the microphone icon in the app and ask “Show me my bills” or “My bills due this week,” and it will show upcoming bills, how much is owed, as well as a summary of past bills. This is an extension of the Google Now personal assistant technology, which tries to anticipate users’ needs and sends useful information to them before they ask for it. Google already scans users’ email accounts for flight information, hotel reservations and packages that may be delivered soon from online order confirmations. These features are available to users of Google’s search app who have turned on the Google Now feature and given Google permission to access information from their Gmail accounts. But the fact that Google is reading your bills via email may unnerve some users and worry privacy advocates. This has happened in the past when Google rolls out new features like this—and the reaction was especially strong when the company first announced its method of mining Gmail for advertising. The Google Now feature tries to anticipate such concerns. When the service shows a bill with the amount due (or an airline reservation or anything else scraped from the user’s own Gmail account) at the top of a list of search results, it says “Only you can see this result” to let users know that the rest of the world cannot see how much they owe *Comcast* <http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=CMCSA> *CMCSA +0.47%* <http://public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=CMCSA?mod=inlineTicker> this month. __._,_.___ ------------------------------ Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Visit Your Group <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmOGRucWJzBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0MTI4MDg2Njc-> - New Members <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/members/all;_ylc=X3oDMTJnbGc3Z2E4BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2bWJycwRzdGltZQMxNDEyODA4NjY3> 1 [image: Yahoo! Groups] <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJldjZpNHJkBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQxMjgwODY2Nw--> • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • Unsubscribe <[email protected]?subject=Unsubscribe> • Terms of Use <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> __,_._,___ -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
