To Free or Not to Free

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