Google said Apps Can Scan And Share Your Gmail Data With Consent.\u00a0 A year ago, Google ended its controversial email scanning practice, but the company still lets third-party apps and add-ons scan your Gmail inbox, despite concerns over privacy risks.
Don\u2019t expect Google to completely cut off marketing firms from your Gmail inbox.
The company has told a group of US senators that Gmail add-ons that\u00a0scan\u00a0your inbox can choose to hand over your data to someone else \u2014 but only if they\u2019re upfront about it.
\u201cDevelopers may share data with third parties so long as they are transparent with the users about how they are using the data,\u201d Google VP Susan Molinari wrote to the Senate Commerce Committee in a July\u00a0letter.
A year ago, Google ended its controversial email-scanning practice, which was used to serve up targeted ads. However,\u00a0The Wall Street Journal\u00a0reported\u00a0this summer that hundreds of outside software developers can still search through your inbox via Gmail\u00a0add-ons\u00a0and mobile apps if you\u2019ve agreed to install them.
These apps can help organize your inbox, offer shopping price comparisons and other email-related tools. But according to the\u00a0Journal, the apps have also given their developers the ability to look through unredacted personal emails, which can be used for marketing or product-refinement purposes. In one instance, 8,000 emails were read by analysts at one app provider to help train the company\u2019s software.
The news prompted the Senate Commerce Committee to\u00a0question\u00a0Google about its email privacy practices and if any user data was at risk of exposure. \u201cThe reported lack of oversight from Google to ensure that Gmail data is properly safeguarded is cause for concern,\u201d the committee said at the time.
However, Google has told lawmakers that the company has protections in place to prevent potential abuse. \u201cWe continuously work to vet developers and their apps that integrate with Gmail before we allow them the ability to request access to user data,\u201d Molinari wrote in her letter, which was first reported on Thursday.
Her letter refrains from answering specifics over how app developers can share Gmail user data to third parties. But apps that need access to Gmail data must undergo a manual review from Google that\u2019ll involve examining the app\u2019s privacy policy and the data privileges it seeks to request, she said.
\u201cOnce they have been given access, we use machine learning (AI-powered software algorithms) to monitor those apps,\u201d Molinari added. \u201cIf we detect significant changes in the behavior of the app after it has been approved, we will once again manually review the app.\u201d
To educate users, Google will serve up warnings when a third-party app is installed that\u2019ll indicate what data it seeks to obtain from your Gmail inbox, and if the app has been verified. In the past, the company has suspended apps\u00a0for failing to be transparent to users, violating its rules on spam, and requesting data permissions that were not relevant to the app.
Molinari also addressed whether Google employees ever peek into your inbox. \u201cNo humans at Google read users\u2019 Gmail, except in very specific cases where they ask us to and give consent, or where we need to for security purposes, such as investigating a bug or abuse,\u201d the company said.
Nevertheless, Google\u2019s defense assumes that people actually read all details in an app\u2019s privacy policy, when many of them can be long and hard to read. The whole issue is a reminder to be careful of what add-ons you install.
Google and other tech companies are set to face the Senate next week in a\u00a0hearing\u00a0over data privacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Google said Apps Can Scan And Share Your Gmail Data With Consent Google said Apps Can Scan And Share Your Gmail Data With Consent.\u00a0 A year ago, Google ended its controversial email scanning practice, but the company still lets third-party apps and add-ons scan your Gmail inbox, despite concerns over privacy risks.Don\u2019t expect Google to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech-news"],"yoast_head":"\n