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Gmail initiative! A viable business model!

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by dr. al olaimi 1 view

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Recently Google announced the Gmail project initiation. And I?ve been reading most of those who got involved in discussing Google entry to such venture. I would summarize all responders? comments into 3 categories:
1. How would Google be able to stop spam
2. how Google would benefit financially (business model)
3. how far Google would go in supporting such large storage.

Some other minor comments included other issues which are not less important in their own merits, yet still fall into one of the three previous categories, i.e. Google messenger (Gim), personalization of accounts, portals and so forth.

In an attempt to give myself a starting point, I thought of it in a macro prospective, thus I would go for answering question #2 first, then justify #3, ending with an attempt to describe an effective method in blocking spam (theoretically).

A. The moment that Google was recognized for its superior search engine, they were able to provide net- demographics, usage behavior, aggressive proactive capture and comparison for all in-listed web pages, changes pre and post changes as per monitored traffic. An extremely important statistical analysis reports for to the content about search patterns to advertisers would easily be available. Such self-positioning by Google would only be described comparably as ?the modern age censes department?, but this time it?s global near real-time coverage!

Once Google develop a scan technique that would scan the contents of emails, Google shall be able to provide even more analytical prospective, but this time supported with factual figures about their findings. Even though anonymity is assured, still scanning email contents is not going to be a crime since what is sought are merely patterns not intimate details ? something in the nature of an added value virus scanning ?.

Henceforth, the ultimate behavioral analysis tool for measuring human-web interactivity and usability is geared up to be delivered to mass marketing and advertisement centric organizations, only after merging both email and user search patterns! But what if we could add to it the preset user-requested news letters and interests? Therefore, the only natural progress is to have personalization touch intact to it e.g. semi-portal coupled with peer to peer messaging. Voila, we got the basic building block for a business model that is indeed promising.

Regardless to the fact that offering 1 GB free sounds appealing, yet it is possible to cause a churn in competitors? serious users who are dependant on long term retention of some ?valuable? emails. I can not see Google spending much on what already was invested hardware wise, as simple calculation to thousands of servers already installed, it is easier to calculate the storage that was already bundled and installed. For our argument purposes, I would consider an average of 60 GB of storage was provided per server ? very classical figure ?, and should be there 10,000 server running, then this would be considered enough for serving 600,000 clients immediately only if they are going to use there allowed quota in full, which is impossible to reach during the first 6 months of full deployment of Gmail! All statistics leads to the sold fact that the average user/customer would use no more than one third of his/her quota (given the fact that larger than 2 MB multi-media attachments? transfer is prohibited to avoid possible copy rights violation). This would translate into an immediate doubling to the size of client base! Shall figures change I would presume it will reflect better forecasting in favor Google.

Not to mention if Gmail offers POP3 and IMAP accessibility that would push more users to ?clean? their accounts and move their ?contents? into their own ?local hard drives?, another increase in storage space that would translate into more quota for other potential subscribers.

However, the investment will be defiantly on the band width usability. Nevertheless, Gmail would be ready to be shipped as a corporate solution with a little bit of value additives to it. Shall we say a MS-Exchange competitor is in the horizon?

B. As for blocking spam, I would believe the only effective way to prevent spam is not to install spam ?reception? blockers software/tools, instead install a spam initiator blocking mechanism. This would require a miniature scanner as an extension to mail servers, only to scan the content of any bulk email at sending time ? only possible through buffering all bulk mail to given enough time for the scanner to work effectively ?, Shall content of the buffered bulk email match with a rate of 90-100% along with a variable recipient?s list, then it is clearly a spam.

The only method to develop such tool would be to have the right proven technology of ?search engine?. Do we need to guess what would be the most superior search engine running so far?

Although the subject is not rounded up entirely, I am pretty much sure that I already flooded the discussion area with enough words, especially after writing this article one shot non-stop!

Shall be any comments, I would appreciate very much if it is shared with me by sending it directly to my email because I am a constant TechRepublic newsletter reader, but not that much of visitor to discussion areas.

Thank you

Dr. Al Olaimi
olaimi@infonovation.com

58 replies

by dc_guy

You seem to have conveniently overlooked the fact that they intend to scan all incoming and outgoing e-mail with AI and target the recipient with ads that seem to be a good fit, based on the content.

This raises all kinds of legal issues. Scanning mail sent by people who are not their own customers and have not given consent. Keeping addresses on the database after they stop using Google. Doing this outside the U.S. where it's blatantly illegal.

They've got a long way to go before they will get anywhere with this sick scheme.

by oz_media

ANOTHER constitutional rights thread up and coming? EEEEEEEEEK! Run screaming!!

Maybe we could sick one of the "This isn't a relevant topic" people on it? it is inevitable that the topic won't be answered conclusively as it is just speculation and it will go off topic into a rights issue soon, oh no it's already started. Gotta run, fast!

by steve

the government already has the carnivore program which can intercept and read any email so I'm only losing privacy to a business. I get spammed by business anyway, and too be honest, if the spam is something I'm interested in it bothers me a lot less than random spam of no interest to me. so bring it on. my biggest concern is whether they will keep the gmail program for a long time. I want a single email address for my whole life, not just till the next dot com bust.

by geekgyrrrl

The best solution to the dilemma is to simply stay offline if one is overly concerned about privacy. I just assume that being targeted for data collection and demographic statistics is the tradeoff I make to be able to conduct my business and other concerns online.

Personally, I don't care one whit if they scan my email and collect my year of birth. I am far more vulnerable at the company I work at, where every keystroke is logged and my desktop can be watched from anyone in the IT department without provocation.

So, bring on the Google Gig, I say!

by tlea

Something you may want to consider is that many companies and ISPs are already scanning e-mail. My company scans all incomming and outgoing mail for potential spam, virii, and proprietary information. This is necessary to help protect the company's network as well as its intellectual property. The employees of the company are well aware of this, but the folks sending us e-mail don't necessarily know that their e-mail is being scanned.

My internet provider also scans my e-mail for virii and spam. The people sending me e-mail don't necessarily know this either.

Heck, when you think about it, e-mail servers keep copies of a user's e-mail that can be read by pretty much anyone with access to the server. Not very private at all.

All of that said...

The one difference I see is that Google generates advertising based on the content of the e-mail. This means that there is a tracable history of a users e-mail patterns. My company's various e-mail scanning application don't keep any real history of the scanned content. Virus and content scanners may quarantine a message for a period of time, but eventually the message will either be released or deleted, and that's the way it should be.

That is all well and good, except when you consider that the e-mail servers are backed up daily, with monthly and yearly archives.

I guess my point is that if you put something out on the Internet, and expect it to be private, you are kidding yourself. At least Google is being up front about what they are doing and they are offering value, in the form of free e-mail with 1GB of storage, for the information.

Personally I am a fan of Google. I think their products are good, and they have refrained from bombarding me with banner and popup ads, unlike MSN or Yahoo. Based on their track record, I think they are one of a VERY few companies that I would trust to do this right.

by fourjames11

I belive DC_GUY hit it on the head when he said there are so many legal issues in scanning email content.

We seem to lose more of it every day. but then agine one does not have to subscribe to this email provider.

I do like the storage that's pretty cool but not worth the loss of my right to privacy. Yet ho ever how much do we really have.

by tomsal

There's a line in one of the songs I listen too...

"Next thing you know they'll take our thoughts away".

I'm all for protecting the kiddies from the sickos and for making our streets safer to walk at night, but its a complex issue for me as well -- because when is enough going to be enough?

How much Big Brother do we have to endure?

20 years from now, will someone be able to watch me (legally) in my own bathroom in my own house?

Where's the line drawn is all I say?

by newsletters

fourjames11 - you hit it exactly.

This is just another *option* for the American (and international) community. And isn't that the great part of being an American - the freedom to make those choices.

Sorry to go off on the good old American rights deal again, but it is an important point in this issue. A right that everyone (in the world) should have is the freedom of choice. What they do with that freedom is up to them.

As for Google's GMail in particular, I think they definitely have a good idea here. As was said previously, if this can be pulled off by anyone, Google is the one I trust to do it. Through the years they have been the search company to stick to their guns and not annoy us as the others have. I believe they are true Internet users before they are Internet entrepenuers - they understand our gripes. I'm sure that's why they're impelementing an extensive testing period and providing as much information as they have up front... not just saying "hey, here's another free e-mail program."

Like all things, time will tell.

by williamwilson5420

When you first see that google will scan your e-mail it does make you think about getting one of their e-mail accounts, they are going to scan e-mails but when you look at it, will there be anything in your e-mail that you would want to hide? I feel Gmail will be more suited to home users, so when you look at it you get a good storeage, and if you have nothing to hide Gmail will be for you, the point about advertising, a large slice of the net is advertising, if you run adaware on your system then surf the net for a very short while then run adaware again you will have spy ware in your system, but that does not stop people going online. It does not bother me if they scan my e-mail I got nothing in it I do not want others to see. So I would get one as it suits my needs.

by opiate

I agree with William on the Privacy Issue. I think it is stupid that some people are bitching about it. Gmail offers you a buttload of space and FREE and people still complain. If you do not like it then don't use it, simple as that. Either way, they have to pay for their 1GB of space for everyone some how don't they? That is why you need these Ads. Also, William is right on scanning your emails, if you have something to hide you should not be using public mail servers, for all companies periodically scan your emails regardless of what they tell you, hello....its on their property, they can do whatever the hell they want.

Ruben.

by bob21

If their scanning indicates questionable activities, will they send appropriate ads to the user, or report it to some agency. eg pedophiliacs, terrorists, drug dealing, money laundering, planning a revolution, gun running, white slavery, bank robbing, etc, etc? How will they draw the line? Will governments have the right to access the files and /or run their own scanners on the database?

by johan.a.vranken

I get e-mail in my webmail and ISP mailbox that comes from unknown sources. I don't reply to it, as I know this will only increase the problem. So, knowing what is going on though "intrest driven" advertising is surely not any worse.
And getting such a service and such possibilities as GMail offers - no question I"ll get an account as soon as this is possible.

by mcline

This may be a bit offbeat... but, if ya don't like their business practices, don't use them!

Not real hard to figure that one out...

by dantheaf

Is GMail really going to be that harmful or is it just another dodgy way of stupid advertising? The topic of privacy pops up along the way. Is it legal in all countries? No? But if GMail can get past the law, it's still probably a system that's not going to work if home users are the main members. If Gmail scans emails for subjects they can use for ads in email messages then what will the ads be? Personal emails from home users don't usually say "BUY THIS NOW! CLICK HERE!" When was the last time you sent an email like that to a friend. It's more like you would say "Hey, how you going? Happy Easter! Wanna come to the movies tommorow..."(if you are a home user). So if they scan those sort of emails, what will the ads say? What if you are sending credit card details to a family member or friend for something? Ebay uses NineMSN search engine and Google search engine to display ads when you get your search results. If you search for "movies", you will see an ad saying "Movies on Ebay". If you type in "Ebay is stupid and dumb and you can find nothing you like" you will see an ad link saying "Ebay is stupid nd dumb and you can find nothing you like on Ebay." It's pointless. I think GMail may use a similar system, but that's dumb. I hate advertising, and from my view, I think banners and pop-ups aren't very good. Banners get alot of hits, popups don't get too many because people own popup stoppers (including Google's own toolbar) and click on the X cross on the popup anyway because the ads waste your time and you are never interested. Banners are almost as stupid, but people still click on them. If you wanna have free mail, use your ISP mail. Usually there is no limit or a very large amount of storage on how much emails you can store in your ISP mail and you can use the web-based mail or use it in Outlook. It's better than most free emails. Although, you can use Hotmail. It's your key to many of the best sites. Using .Net technology, you can login at many locations using only one username and password account. then there's Yahoo Mail. Well, I don't see much in it. But then there's Netscape mail and all the other free mail providers. But Vodafone and some other mobile phone providers have a good system. Use your phone number as your email address. With vodafone your address would be MYMOBILENUMBER@VODAFONE.NET which is useful. It helps others to get to know your phone number off by heart at the same time of knowing your email address of by heart! You can also check the mail on your WAP enable mobile phone or at Vodafone LIVE!. It's good. So which is the best and will Google be goood? Well, all the web-based free emails are pretty much the same but Google's idea of huge storage is good. Although there is email scanning, who cares unless u hav something to hide.

by libmary

The business that I work for currently scans all of my outgoing mail. They also can fire me if I send something that reveals company info, to parties that are not authorized to see it. I feel that the "privacy" issue and email is not even relevant or worth the efforts we think are happening to protect it are actually accomplishing anything.. If you are on the internet, exchanging any type of information, with anyone, any business, any discussion group - i.e. this one - you have lost your privacy.

If you want to stop spam, or viruses, you'll have to put on your "tech" thinking caps, come up with some big bucks, and do it fast, cause the "spammers, and virus creators" are already 10 steps ahead of you.

If Google wants to give users a gig of space for email for FREE, try it out, if it doesn't work for your business or personal life, "unsubscribe".

Doing the delete crawl through the sea of spam....

by patrick642

If I recall correctly, not only will the email be scanned but ads will be placed INSIDE your email.... (So, if you like ads alongside your email, enjoy.)
But this is what they say on their web page on GMail:
There are no pop-ups or banner ads in Gmail. Gmail does include relevant text ads that are similar to the ads appearing on the right side of Google search results pages. The matching of ads to content is a completely automated process performed by computers using the same technology that powers the Google AdSense program.

by jjpeck

Everyone knows that email is not private! If you send unencrypted sensitive or private information by email you are dumber than a bag of rocks. I don't see any problem with scanning for keywords and placing text ads to the side of your content. I use yahoo mail now, and I get plenty of ads on my email pages, very few of which are appealing to me. Maybe under Google's system the ads will at least be of possible interest to me. No, I am not kidding. I spend thousands per year on products for home and business through Internet. I usually have to seek out sources which takes time and effort. Google's Gmail ads will surely be no worse than existing web mail ads, and may even prove to be helpful.

by patrick642

Thanks. You know, you may be right, as to the least intrusiveness of Google. I'm going to have to hear from a couple of folks who I trust and see what they think of it. Maybe I'll even test drive it myself to check it out.
But you are dead on about the privacy of email. For the past 22 years I've been attempting to get people to pay attention to their own security instead of relying on someone else. Email, if not encrypted, is fair game - and with a good hacker, even encrypted email is not 100% safe. And definitely corporate email (as we all know) is not private nor safe if you want confidentiality.

by ticonderoga

Dr Olaimi, I looked forward to reading your article on the implications of Google's Gmail service. Unfortunately, it was so poorly written that I couldn't make much sense of it. What is ?the modern age censes department?? Are you honestly able to make sense of "Therefore, the only natural progress is to have personalization touch intact to it e.g. semi-portal coupled with peer to peer messaging"? Please proofread your work in the future.

by steve

it made sense to me. I think the bigger problem you personally encountered was unfamiliarity with the jargon. Maybe you don't know what the census department does or have trouble with english? adding a compound adjective that is also a figure of speech such as "modern day" to "census department" will no doubt be confusing to non english readers.

in conclusion, yes it could be improved in clarity, but it's better composed and thought out than your criticism which suffered from exageration and the associated loss of rapport and credibility.

by shorne

Um...no, Ticonderoga is correct. Much of Dr. Als message is lost due to the poor writing skills. Ti's example "Therefore, the only natural progress is to have personalization touch intact to it e.g. semi-portal coupled with peer to peer messaging" may have meaning, but only Dr. Al would know what it is. Why you would defend such a sloppy posting is beyond me.

by seldred

In the first place, the doctor wrote "censes", not "census" - just one of many, many obvious spelling, punctuation, and word usage errors. It sounded like he had an interesting idea, but I had to guess at what he really meant.

In the second place, just what do YOU mean by "...exageration (sp!) and the associated loss of rapport and credibility"?!!

by the_punisher79

Good content, but quite disjointed and full of grammatical and spelling errors. Maybe it was typed up on the fly, so I'll give you some room there. Trying to use big words without knowing what they mean or how to use them in a sentence doesn't look all that professional.

I'm all for larger free email services, but I'm not willing to take it at a substantial cost. If you want to STOP spam for good, don't encourage it in a legal way! What's the use of a GB of storage if half of it is advert. crap that Google thinks I need to see? What's preventing major spammers from hijacking the system and me having literally thousands of messages in my inbox one day? I HATE with a passion spending major amounts of my time cleaning junk mail out my email accounts. Google needs to think this through wisely, since other free email providers will more than likely follow suite in some way soon after GMail takes off.

by muttaga

Might be a good argument, but I find stylistic deficiencies erode the credibility of the content as well.

by patrick642

Yes, I was going to reply on this topic as well and slam him. But then I realized that English is not his first language, obviously... I was also going to suggest with that being the case, either run the article through Word grammar/spell check or get someone to proof read it first.
But then, I figured - "he won't even be checking the comments posted here"! Unless you email him directly, that would be the only way for him to know your reactions.
Not to hit on anyone - but unless you email him directly, relax. I tend to give non-native English speakers a break, if I can understand the content and context of the message - which I did. I recall painfully and vividly when I learned Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Japanese - the embarrassment of not being a native speaker.

by andeanderson

Google must be feeling pretty secure in the fact that they feel we are now ready to accept SPAM as normal and inevitable.

This is an open declaration saying how and why they will place SPAM inside of your email, if you will use their "Free" email account.

It will probably make them a fortune before the Hackers find a way to embed viruses and worms into these open email accounts. Then they will just sell the whole email program to another company.

So, I think I will pass on this generous "Free" email offering.

by tlea

SPAM is when someone does a mass mailing to people who did not request the information. Google is not spamming, in fact the information is being targeted specifically to the user, based on an agreement the user entered into to gain the free e-mail service. If the user doesn't want Google's advertisments added to their e-mail, they can use another provider.

As for the hackers embedding virii and trojans... Doesn't this happen with normal e-mail anyway? How would Google's system help facilitate this activity? Many companies already attach ads to e-mail, why would Google be any different, as far as virii are concerned?

by dausetm

I think 1GB is a great idea and I don't care about my email being scanned. Most free email accounts already push ads. MSN, Yahoo, they all do it. There is a choice here. For those who don't like the idea, don't sign up. Otherwise, enjoy the space.

by cindypsych

I agree. Don't sign up if you don't want them scanning your email. But they need to be very clear to prospective signees that their email will be scanned. Not bury the information somewhere in a user agreement that people "agree" to without even reading.

by carpeweb

I'm glad to see some sensible comments. It seems to me that the valid "watchdog" function for privacy advocates is to ensure full disclosure of policies and what the technologies actually do in terms of privacy. It's up to each individual to make an informed decision after knowing the facts.

I guess that's a general political statement, because I could substitute most issues for 'privacy' and probably have the same position (speaking for myself only, of course).

by bayo

Business is business. All i-services target it, and most do it blindly.
Google was not born yesterday, and most of their services are what they say they are. Personnally, I have not received from this company anything that I have not asked or clicked for. Their advertising is indead targetted and relevant.
It is that type of "technology" or psychological business analysis that they are promoting.
This message is just a thought out of the blue after reading and informing myself (I have even read the grammar and redactional shOt).
P2P and GIM would only force developpers to dig deeply into the security issue. Who knows if the final product will include VoIP... For what I read, it is in an experimental stage. If a user does not like what he/she gets, I'm sure a VALID big UNSUBSCRIBE link will be available -and respected- or one that would globally mean DO-NOT-FOLLOW-THIS. (Nothing to do with working for or campaigning for them, but Google as well as Yahoo! and TechRepublic do not play with their member policy). It is a good policy to let evolution flow, and to stop it only under undeniable facts: delinquency nor terrorism stop tourism...
Cheers and good day.

by blarman

Doctor or not, this guy needs to work on his grammar... It's atrocious. Where's the editor?

by bayo

Not happy about something on this site? It gives everyone options to let them know so, so readers do not distort a specific thread.

Just send an email at:
https://www.techrepublic.com.com/5112-22-0.html?subject=Discussions

This guy contributes with more than just negative critism. English now-a-days is not spoken only by natives of an English speaking country... Try creating a meaningful thread in a foreing language (even at school level).

by patrick642

English is utilized everywhere at different levels of proficiency by many people. As you say, others should try it and find out what it is like to be ridiculed - slamming for non-nativeness should be in another discussion forum.

by lanre

Why not confess that you find it difficult to follow the train of though and ideas contained in the paper.....instad of acting like .......

Please stick to substance instead of hittingo ut blindly like a blinded.......

fill in the blank spaces.....if u will

by generalist

My initial thought was that this was an April Fool's joke. Between the spelling problems and some of the phrasing, it is pretty amusing.

Of course, the date of the posting doesn't support the idea.

Digging deeper, some of the concepts proposed seem a little odd. For example, the spam blocking concept of using 'initiator' blockers as opposed to 'reception' blockers might work if ALL mail systems had them. But getting that type of system into place would be virtually impossible unless you have some pretty draconian 'email' police forces roaming the world and using force to shut down 'renegade' mail servers.

by jdc1110

I plan to at least try out gmail. The potential amount of free storage is too good to pass up. As for allowing Google to scan the e-mails, all e-mails I send using Google will be encrypted, so scanning them for keywords won't do them much good.

by hermanatoriii

I agree with both sentences I was able to decipher. I'm sure this guy knows a lot, except about the English language.

by chmod777

I think Google is a great search engine but now I also think they are a terrible company.

This is another example of Tycoon wannabees treating the general public like a bunch of serfs who's only purpose is to be exploited. The "free email for ads" offer is a good business model but sets a frightening precident, and establishes a dangerous status quo. To give up your right to privacy in any circumstance is helping to create a society where anyone can access any information they wish, with no laws or common consensus to stop them.

Corporations and government agencies would love this, along with criminals. pranksters and vengeful enemies.

And what benefit are ads to the person receiving them? I personally would much rather go to a good portal to find products than be constantly harrassed by ads I did not want. Originally I began using the Internet TO GET AWAY FROM COMMERCIALISM!!!

Cyberspace is being taken over by carpet-baggers and exploitationists that are only out to get rich, and could care less about establishing good standards and fair netiquette. Sadly, Google is now counted among them.

by newfoundluck

Come on man! It's not an invasion of privacy if they tell you about it ahead of time and you have the option of using or not using their service. If you think there are cameras in the bathroom, go to a different bathroom.

by thechas

Read the user agreement for almost any "free" on-line e-mail service.

Google isn't doing anything new aside from upping the ante on user space.

If you want mail that is relatively free from prying eyes, use security envelopes and snail mail.

ALL electronic communication is subject to review and getting into undesirable hands.

Chas

by generalist

You can always use snail mail and send CDs that are encrypted if you want really secure things.

And if you want to take things a step further, send a DVD that has 99.99% garbage on it, encrypted.

Of course, that might get you into trouble with Homeland Security or even a corporation.

Security by spamming and encryption...

by W Bahny

I'm posting this as close to the root as possible, because it fits into many of the previous messages.

Frankly, those of you who are complaining about it scanning your e-mails because of privacy reasons, because it is illegal in your country, or whatever have no reason to complain. If you don't like it, DON'T USE IT! This is a FREE service, so, because you are paying no subscription fee, they should have just as much right as you to the data that's stored on their servers. Until you pay them money, you have no right to complain, because you can just as easily sign up for one of the many other free e-mail services.

by rudolphreindeer

Surely this is THE method for getting flash-heavy advertisements into your free inbox. Seems to me the ONLY way to get huge, flashy ads to users is to embed them in their e-mail, where they cannot escape them. But Google will do this right, and serve up the huge ads quickly. Will those large ads be counted towards the 1GB total? Surely they will. Might it be honest to offer a rough guesstimate of the size volume of the anticipated ads, so we know it'll really be a 768MB mailbox?

Marketers talk in terms of 'lock-in'. Expect this to be a future trend. A few years from know our email might look like Johnny Mneumonic's. It might not serve Google's interests to serve up your email to the FBI/CIA/NSA, but then they really don't need to. In the U.S. all broadband providers are legally forced to install remote wiretapping. Your Time-Warner Roadrunner cable modem already tells the FBI anything they want to know. Carnivore is only one of many methods to monitor us rabble. The internet was the greatest thing to happen to domestic intelligence since the Stasi was created.

Don't live in the U.S.? Don't be naive. ALL international internet traffic is quick-scanned in Canada, the U.K. and other backbone junctions. See mediafilter dot org slash MFF slash CAQ slash CAQ57Sniff dot html. But why scan international traffic? Perhaps because our government does not operate all the remailers in the world. If remailers like anon-penet.fi were used by 'ex-KGB russian criminal elements', then scanning their traffic might garner valuable international intelligence. "We have fewer spies on the ground, but more in the cable(s)."

Welcome to the Bush world. Where daddy made his bones, and sonny does what daddy tells him to.

by dr. al olaimi

I did not expect the overwhelming responses that my previous article generated.
Setting aside the emotional ones, I believe I owe an apology if not coupled with an explanation to every concerned individual for the poor linguistic presentation.

I wrote the article at an airport, standing on my feet, using generic terminal, and trying to write an article - one shot - in a 5? square box that would re-reading the previous paragraph a bit difficult. At that point I felt that the keyboard was the bottleneck of my thoughts. Speed was too another thing to tackle because boarding has already begun. I would say I was unjust to both the topic and the readers. Again, I apologies.

I am pretty much sure that the idea was well perceived, yet readers in general are into one of three categories.
1. Content centric,
2. Format centric, and
3. Passive critic (blend of both 1 & 2, with don?t care attitude!)

I sincerely thank those who commented with constructive objectivity, for thy shared the idea. And many folds thankful for those who enlightened me with their critique, for thy forced me to revise my standard level of communication. (Oh Lord shed mercy upon thy guided me to truth!)

Need say more! Only special thanks to my new friend Mr. Michael Bains, whom was extremely generous and courageous to carry out the critique one-to-one.

I suppose if I elaborate more it would end up as poetic as many would like it not! Hence, Halting and revisiting GMail!

I. GMail is still a project on the drawing board of Google.

II. Google is a commercial entity, therefore financial support is needed.

III. Email scanning was merely a theoretical point of view, Google need not to consult me in its validity as my anticipated POV was.

IV. Scientific discussion is by far the hardest debates that could be conducted as long as there are serious brains behind it.

V. Google have the potential to the next generation Net-engine like, not only net-search ?engine. This idea makes me wonder about ?what is next??

VI. Spam is out there and flourishing, rumors saying that virus writers are teaming up with spammers! How factious is this, I am simply clueless.

VII. Again, let us imagine that a tiny software was developed by Google, to be loaded on every single private mail server (for nominal fee) that would buffer any bulk email-out in order to scan identical patterns and irregularities in email usage (who knows, maybe this would an ideal solution to block worm like viruses from taken over local email clients!). But Google would need a testing environment for its software, ?I am theoretician?), what be better than their own environment? Novell did it and still doing it for more than five years so far. (www.myrealbox.com)

VIII. Another argument is that most advertisement needn?t to be embedded inside the email body, like Microsoft?s hotbar, or Yahoo?s trailing signature. However, cyber space demographic statistical analysis is very important for advertisers. Very much like census department (not censes as I was corrected before!), this department?s role is to provide an unbiased opinion and never get involved in advertisement, yet almost %100 of marketing agencies are depending on its publications and statistical analysis. Not, how about commercializing Google census department (the modern age census department!!!!!)?

Finaly, the topic could easily folk out into major sub-topics. However I am very much enthused to receive adequate replies with subjective originality ;-)

p.s Have I mentioned that English language is my third language? Yep not even the second! :)

Dr. Olaimi
olaimi@infonovation.com

by jthomson60016

Google is being honest about their commercial motives in providing this free email service. One gives up certain privacy in return for the service. However, presuming they intend to offer the mail service as a POP3 type of portal, then PGP or similar Public Key Encryption offers both the free service AND privacy.

If you encrypt your outgoing mail, then privacy is ensured by the use of strong encryption, as well as providing a gurantee of authorship and uncorrupted content. Ditto if your friends use strong encryption for their outgoing email. It is only those messages between contacts who can't or won't use encryption that your privacy is compromised.

In point of fact, good encryption such as PGP isn't even required to protect from snooping such as that done by Gmail. A simple ROT13 should be enough to conceal the content, as Google is unlikely to design their parser with even the simplest decryption tools. Doing so would validate the worst privacy invasion fears of every critic out there, and certainly not be worth the public critism they would receive.

jthomson

by unclekrunkle

Be aware that google will scan email content as part of this "service" and whatever the actual method, will then use the info gleaned to target individual users of the service with "customized spam".
My reasoning is this:
NOBODY reads my snail mail between it's sender and it's destination, (me), my mailbox is not "scanned" by the post office, so that they may "provide better service" for me in the future, in fact it is a federal offense to tamper with anyone's private mail or mailbox.
I understand that snail mail and email are not the same thing, but the same principle is involved.....privacy. There are many things to consider about the actual privacy of any information exchanged online: spyware and malware, virus and worm activity, electronic activity monitored through an employers network, not to mention protection of highly sensitive information such as credit card #'s, SSN#'s, medical records and the like........but to actually GIVE PERMISSION IN ADVANCE for a company to scan all your incoming, outgoing and stored email, on the promise of better future service (it will still be spam no matter how it's recipients are targeted) or large storage space is reckless, stupid, just completely out of the question for me!!
We are fighting against the erosion of civil liberties and personal privacy (privileged information) through the current administration. Among other things, anyone's email may already be subject to carnivore scanning, public records are being copied, public libraries are refusing to provide private browsing information to the feds and the AG is trying to gain access to private medical records.....since the passing of the patriot act, a general air of "Well, it's too late anyway.." has pervaded our country and gotten it thinking that this type of business practice is "OK".......IT'S NOT OK!!!!
The average American does not fall under scrutiny of the government in it's war on terror. Don't let an otherwise reputable company like Google goad you into believing that this type of practice is beneficial to the average internet user. It is not. If, in fact, you are in need of an excess of mailbox space, there are many, many, cheap alternatives to this sham of a service. Don't fall for the hype!

CDR

by relicksc

1. If you sign up for the service, IT'S NOT SPAM! You agreed to it.
2. You already have Ads with your email if you use any one of the popular providers. (Just look at the borders around the message)
3. If you are on the Internet, you are already giving up some of your privacy. (Registry, automatic updates, registered software, etc.)
4. If you work for any company and use their email service, YOU HAVE NO PRIVACY ! Any and all of your emails can be read at any time.
5. The ads will take up very little space anyway. So either enjoy the SPACE or leave this place!

Google is not causing anyone any undue harm. They're trying to market a service that if you like it, USE IT! If you don't like it, then don't use it or complain about it.

"THE SKY IS NOT FALLING"

by doulos8

Snail (US) mail is protected by federal law. Email is not. You are free to choose your email carrier.

For an example of snail mail infused by advertising, just check your next telephone bill or Sears charge card statement. How do you deal with those? I curse and trash the junk. Sometimes I send them back with my payment. Mostly I just quit using their services - although it's a little tough with the phone. (But at least Qwest has been offering better and better pricing on various service combinations that may someday provide me a useful value.)

Here's another scenario: You're walking down the street with your Starbucks cup in hand. A guy walks up to you and hands you a coupon for the local joint, Java Joe's. Has he invaded your privacy? I think not.

by unclekrunkle

You can't equate scanning email with walking down the street and being handed a coupon, thus diverting you from your original destination. Email has some federal protection and is gaining more. Snail mail has provided me personally with tons of recycleable paper, but it still is never intercepted from it's original sender, whether requested or not. You are still missing the point if you can't see that the major points of contention are the actual scanning of personal content by very sophisticated and sensitive means and the open-end retention of personal correspondance. Let me ask you something: when you are ridding yourself of sensitive old documents such as credit card statements, do you just throw them in the trash, or do you shred them? Now do you get the point? Choice has nothing to do whatever with the actual worldwide infrastructure of this scanning hard and software when the government starts using it to profile it's and the worlds citizens.

by it security guy

Maybe you don't care about what Google wants to do, but in talking about gigabytes of storage for each user, they could potentially do keystroke logging, or atleast find a way to store and download on a scheduled basis. I thought of all that email stored in one place when most people are not up to speed on home use security, gives hackers, spies and others a one-stop-shopping location to dredge for information. I doubt Google would be able to stop hacks and they may even have people 'sign' an agreement that Google wouldn't be held liable if the database is hacked and personal info is stolen or destroyed. With some people's mentality of wanting to get something for nothing, getting gigs of storage for free email sounds great, but for those of us tech people who can see the potential and possibly real problems, it may end up being a nightmare waiting to happen. But that is my three cents worth.

by oz_media

As far as people READING or ascanning email, if it is in an office that you are employed by they have all the right in the world to do so. Anyone else and it is a breach of your rights.

In ONE way office email scanning has proven effective, in yesterday's newpaper, there was an article how two RCMP officers were fired and are facing trial for breaching their oath. They were sharing very VERY racsist emails and complaining about specific races in Vancouver and how they look to target these races as they are "...pissing off us white guys and wasting our time..."

they were monitored by the RCMP and then released from duty.

Now if we had fought to get the ability for a company to review email turned into a breach of privacy, these two racists RCMP officers would be out there looking for the next Rodney King.

by dr. al olaimi

Google is going NASDAQ (IPO)

Google's Gmail passed first round of clearance in the UK!

A Russian company is offering unlimited storage for its clients!! (at mail dot ru)

Google is re-revisiting it's Israel site! (Hebro)

Any comments?

Dr. Olaimi
olaimi@infonovation.com

by bob21

If a small percentage of the material is encrypted, either on a personnal account, or globally, I'm sure it won't bother them. It would probably bother them if a majority of people encrypted all their e-mail, or if a majority of everyone's e-mail was encrypted.

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