[Glastonbury] gmail

[Ian Dickinson]

Greg <greg.browne at gmail.com> wrote:
> You are correct - it is worth reading the lists on this subject and
> also the TORs for gmail - they are a bit worrying. 
Really? Which bits? I did read the t&c's before I opened my gmail
account, and I didn't see anything particularly worrying. There was a
flurry of discussion when gmail was announced, but I thought most of
the concerns had either been addressed by Google or were based on
rather weak arguments.

> Personally I like
> it for its ease of use, threading and searchability plus the 1GByte
> storage 
Agreed.

> but wouldn't use it for any confidential personal information.
I guess it depends on the nature of the information and the
individual's tolerance for risk. I have no qualms about having web and
list passwords emailed to gmail for example.  Arguably, truly
confidential information shouldn't even be on a computer that has
internet access.

It's also worth remembering that recent reports have put the risk of
identity theft from off-line sources much higher than on-line identity
theft (Ms Hilton's misadventures notwithstanding :-). So not shredding
your credit card statements presents at least as much risk as gmail or
its ilk.

> Remember also who provides a sizable proportion of google's funding.
Given that they went public last year, that would be the shareholders.
I doubt they'd be happy for Google to risk the very substantial public
investment that was made by taking liberties with trusted customer
data. Brand value is hard to win and easy to lose.

Cheers,
Ian