Days after announcing the launch of Gmail, its free email service, king of
the Internet search world, Google, finds itself embroiled in a storm of privacy
issues. And this time the heat is coming too close from home for comfort.
Democratic Senator Liz Figueroa of Fremont, California has drafted a bill
that would hit Google’s present plans for its mail services if it is passed by
state legislation. Figueroa, has opined that Gmail’s intention of scanning
user’s emails to provide advertising based on keywords present there and
retaining email copies even after being deleted by users, was an invasion on
privacy that should not be allowed. Originator of the ‘do not call’ list in
California, Figueroa called Google’s Gmail a ‘faustian bargain’ and has
equaled its proposition to ‘having a massive billboard in the middle of your
home.’ She has also likened the service’s intentions to a phone company
interrupting calls to announce ‘this call has been brought to you by…".
The service, which is presently in its beta testing phase, has been assaulted
by privacy concern foundations the world over since the day of its announcement.
In fact, two days before Figueroa was to have sent a letter to Google asking
them to reconsider the product, on April 6, an alliance of privacy and civil
liberties organizations also asked Google via a letter to withhold the service
till issues could be sorted out. Gmail though does not miss out on a support
front. Thousands of blogs on the net have expressed shock and disgust on the
move against the service. All of them opine that Gmail, which proposes to offer
more than 100 times the storage space offered by entrenched players like Yahoo
and MSN, will be a free service that anybody can choose to use, knowing all that
comes with it. Some beta users of Gmail have said that the advertising is less
discreet than the barrage that the average man faces in the normal way of life
and also pointed out that everything sent on the Net, unless encrypted, remains
accessible by default. Their contention - preventive legislation in the service
can prove to be a bandage that is much worse than the wound.
Right now though, amidst the tempest that has been raked up with the first
hearing on the bill set for May 4, the best thing to do might be to play the
game of wait and watch.
Sathya Mithra Ashok in Bangalore