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Is Gmail "Creepier" Than Any Other Service?
Authored by: flipflop on Jun 23, '04 08:17:45AM

This seems to be a common misconception that people have. Gmail does *not* put ads in the email that Gmail users send out. When a Gmail user opens an email, there is an AdWords box off to the right of the email showing 'related' ads. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.



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Is Gmail "Creepier" Than Any Other Service?
Authored by: iRideSnow on Jun 23, '04 04:11:19PM

I think it's a reasonable mistake for users to make. All of the ads (or little extras, whatever you want to call them) that you see when using other email services are appended directly onto the end of the email, and sometimes prepended at the beginning. If gmail's mechanism is different, only displaying ads to the user reading the email through gmail's web interface, then good for them. That's a step in the right direction, imo. I wonder if they'll offer email forwarding to external accounts? If so, what do they do about the ads in those case?

The underlying problem is still there though. That is, saving emails forever without user-controlled encryption is kind of creepy to me. If that's what people want, then they should go for it. I just think they should at least consider the possible (unlikely, I admit) long-term complications that could result. It's not for me. And I don't like knowing that emails that I've sent to gmail, or any other large-storage email provider, are going to be kept in perpetuity. Not that I would expect any problems as a result, but still, it fits the definition of 'creepy' for me. But, to each his own.

Rob



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