There's no reason to fear Google any more than any other service. Google is at least being up-front and honest about what they're doing. We don't know much about the other guys.
Unless you're taking insanely heroic measures to encrypt your data, most of it is wide open to anyone with access to the network path. Every bit that flows through your internet connection can be monitored. Every email you send goes across the network in cleartext, and many copies are being made on various machines as it makes its way to the recipient. Is everyone who has handled your data erased it from their systems? Maybe. Maybe not. Often people will tell you your data has been erased, but in reality it isn't. It hangs around on backup tapes. It hangs around on hard drives. It even hangs around in databases. Some databases never really delete data. They just mark it as "deleted". It never goes away unless someone specifically cleans up the data, and with storage costs getting so cheap, there isn't the motivation there used to be. In short, you have to assume everything you're doing over the network can be monitored or recorded. There is no real privacy unless you're doing encryption. George On 12/21/07, mark.al...@l-3com.com <mark.al...@l-3com.com> wrote: > > David, > > I'm glad Gmail works for you, if it's your cup of tea. > > But, after everything I have read, Gmail seems to be a pretty scary cup > and one I'm not inclined to partake. > > Here's some info for you: > > > http://www.google-watch.org/gmail.html > > http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/03/google_mail_is_evil_privacy/ > > http://epic.org/privacy/gmail/faq.html#1 > > > http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-privacy_09bus.ART.State.Edition1.2a5a693.html > > > The one above was just printed this past week. > > I know just about everyone is watching you, especially, here at work, but > while help them? > > Use at your own risk. > > > Later, > > Mark > > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* David Locklear [mailto:dlocklea...@gmail.com] > *Sent:* Fri 12/21/2007 11:27 AM > *To:* Texas Cavers; greater_houston_grotto > *Subject:* [Texascavers] Google Gmail Cavechat > > > > I have been using Gmail for several months and really like > the way it works. >
