Google Scans Your Gmail for Invoices and Receipts to Track What You Buy Online(indiatimes.com)
indiatimes.com
Google Scans Your Gmail for Invoices and Receipts to Track What You Buy Online
https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/google-scans-your-gmail-for-invoices-receipts-to-track-what-you-by-online-367598.html
32 comments
There is finite number of things that are devilishly bad and incredibly genius at the same time.
This is one of them.
This is one of them.
yawn
Here's lots of discussion from two years ago:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19942219
Here's lots of discussion from two years ago:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19942219
Here's even someone asking to be scanned/tracked!
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5346262
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5346262
FastMail, Firefox, DuckDuckGo, iOS
Why FastMail instead of ProtonMail?
Why “instead” rather than “also”?
"Why FastMail also of ProtonMail?"
?! :-D
?! :-D
“Also, ProtonMail.” would have been a great comment. (Sorry, I didn’t plan for disingenuous. My error.)
I didn't take it as disingenuous, I just found the sentence funny.
No reason. I tried it out one day many years ago and never looked back. Do use gmail inboxes for some throwaway stuff though.
Oh wow, this truly rattles me to my core and I will never look at things the same ever again...
...said (hopefully) no one. Why is "Google being shady" news anymore? No amount of education on the topic ever seems to change anyone's mind, unless they were already on the fence. People who love Google will continue to love Google, even if they need your firstborn for personalized advertising purposes.
...said (hopefully) no one. Why is "Google being shady" news anymore? No amount of education on the topic ever seems to change anyone's mind, unless they were already on the fence. People who love Google will continue to love Google, even if they need your firstborn for personalized advertising purposes.
Is this news? I figured most people sort of knew this, or at least would be able to figure it out on their own pretty quickly.
If you're not paying for the product, you are the product.
If you're not paying for the product, you are the product.
Maybe on HN but outside of our bubble most people have no clue what data is collected about them on the regular and how it is (mis-)used. If you tell them they act offended and tell you that surely you must be paranoid, have something to hide or be joking, and that it would never be allowed by the government (or whatever)!!1
Unfortunately, in fact it has nothing to do with whether you're paying for Gmail. Your data is still more valuable then your the 15 bucks or whatever you pay per user for Google Workspace these days. Google do it with the paid Enterprise accounts, too. Admins have some (limited) influence over it there (in that they can switch of certain things but that's actually a brand-new option) but of course that doesn't mean that Google stops collecting and aggregating that data anyway. They just hide the (marginally useful) front-end from you that's their fig leaf for justifying the data analysis in the first place (like the automatic flight reminders, calendar integration, parcel tracking or text completion).
Unfortunately, in fact it has nothing to do with whether you're paying for Gmail. Your data is still more valuable then your the 15 bucks or whatever you pay per user for Google Workspace these days. Google do it with the paid Enterprise accounts, too. Admins have some (limited) influence over it there (in that they can switch of certain things but that's actually a brand-new option) but of course that doesn't mean that Google stops collecting and aggregating that data anyway. They just hide the (marginally useful) front-end from you that's their fig leaf for justifying the data analysis in the first place (like the automatic flight reminders, calendar integration, parcel tracking or text completion).
many people are paying for extra drive space I bet and gmail storage is part of it. I doubt they are excluded. so the "you don't pay, you are the product" is just a meme.
This is why Amazon stopped mentioning the product name in shipping confirmations a while ago. It just says "Your order no. XXX of n items has been dispatched" and they don't say which items. In the order confirmation, they do list the product name but no longer the product number (ASIN). Looks like they don't want Google to have access to the same extremely valuable data on what items shoppers actually order and when. The unintended consequence is that the messages are now quite useless to me (it's literally useless spam if you order more than 1 thing per week), as you never know from the email itself what item was actually shipped...
I thought this was a privacy setting that you could toggle somewhere (so as to get useful information if you're not using Gmail) but that isn't available.
Quite annoying on one hand but on the other, good on Amazon (I am saying this fully aware of whom I applauding) for frustrating Google's data hunger a bit.
I thought this was a privacy setting that you could toggle somewhere (so as to get useful information if you're not using Gmail) but that isn't available.
Quite annoying on one hand but on the other, good on Amazon (I am saying this fully aware of whom I applauding) for frustrating Google's data hunger a bit.
This was the final straw that led me to cancel Prime and reduce my Amazon purchases by something like 80%.
So this is why I gotta keep opening the links to figure out which articles the email is about. Terribly annoying.
I actually think this could be a serious security issue. They train you to click on links in cryptic emails which are indistinguishable from spam at first glance. So if you're waiting for one important item and get like ten of these "1 item has dispatched, click here to learn more" and mindlessly click through a bunch to find which one is the one you're waiting for... malware could easily hide behind one of those doors, especially for users who are not so alert to potential phishing attacks.
It's frankly completely the opposite of what we want to train users to do.
Such an odd decision from a UX perspective. But then again, Amazon have never really been heroes in the UI/UX field and I guess their reasoning for this change was that frustrating any scraping efforts by Google and others was more important than giving their users the best possible user experience. Quite ironic if you consider their motto, to be the "Earth's most customer-centric company". But then again, as the poet said, what's in a name...
Such an odd decision from a UX perspective. But then again, Amazon have never really been heroes in the UI/UX field and I guess their reasoning for this change was that frustrating any scraping efforts by Google and others was more important than giving their users the best possible user experience. Quite ironic if you consider their motto, to be the "Earth's most customer-centric company". But then again, as the poet said, what's in a name...
source? Do they only do this to @gmail emails?
Why is it Amazon's job to prevent people from using their email how they choose?
It's not, but there appears to be no law that requires detailed email receipts from businesses, so it'd be expected they'd take the route that prioritizes their interests over those of their customers.
It is their job to design their own email templates as they see fit
The customer doesn't get a say in the matter
The customer doesn't get a say in the matter
I think they also did so due to other services scraping for things like price matching.
Paribus etc comes to mind.
Paribus etc comes to mind.
I pay for Google Workspace as my mail provider on our domain (I know I should look at Fastmail etc, but family is used to Google interface). How much scanning or data collecting would we be subject to?
They scan everything- you have some settings in admin you can tweak.
Scanning looks for spam and phishing- attachments may be scanned for malware - you can enable enhanced pre delivery scanning. They don’t scan suite emails for ads.
If you want to let stuff through you can setup an mx proxy and then whitelist the ip in admin settings. Just be ready for the metric ton of spam and scam emails you’ll get
Scanning looks for spam and phishing- attachments may be scanned for malware - you can enable enhanced pre delivery scanning. They don’t scan suite emails for ads.
If you want to let stuff through you can setup an mx proxy and then whitelist the ip in admin settings. Just be ready for the metric ton of spam and scam emails you’ll get
The following post might sound somewhat paranoid but it isn't. I (try to) just report facts which another commenter said "everybody knows already anyway".
So: All email are parsed for shopping info (price, product, quantity), shipping/tracking numbers (UPS, FedEx etc.), upcoming bills or reminders, what they are for and in which amount, dates & events (flight numbers, passenger names, booking codes, events, invitations, collaborations). How you deal with each email (delete it unread, categorize it or send it to spam) is also recorded and over time influences the behavior of your inbox (depending on your settings as well). Who sends you email and which groups of users you send email to (this will be used to identify your peer groups and Google will recommend you add a person if it thinks you forgot to CC them in an email).
All your attachments and all their contents are processed (to search for malware and/or illegal content).
All files you store on Google Drive are continuously monitored for size and content which might be illegal (such as porn) etc. and how many people look at them (if you share it with too many people, your account may be closed).
All your photos uploaded to Google Photos are used to train machine-learning algorithms for facial recognition and item identification.
All files on Google Drive that you delete, are not deleted right away.
All the Wi-fi passwords of networks you connect to on the phone, all Wi-Fi networks you pass but don't connect to and all the Bluetooth devices you connect to will also be stored (Google uses these for better location information if or when GPS is unavailable).
By default, if you are logged into your Google account while surfing the web and/or using Chrome, Google will also collect, store and connect with your identity
- each and every phrase you search (this feature is called Web Activity)
- all the apps you use, how often and how long (App Activity)
- every video you watch on YouTube, how long and whether you skip certain parts (this feature is called YouTube Search & Watch History)
- every location you visit with GPS enabled on your phone and/or navigate to using Google Maps (this feature is called Location History)
- all voice commands you input into Google search or Google assistant (this feature is called Voice & Audio Activity)
- any voicemail you receive on Gmail (through Google Voice) will be transcribed
This will be used to show you personalized ads but it will also be aggregated and used to analyze trends and patterns.
This is all on top of the usual stuff that Google collects by tracking you regardless of whether or not you are logged into your account, by virtue of having the largest ad network in the world which is embedded on all major websites.
You can find much of that information on myaccount.google.com and more if you order a "Google Takeout" which will allow you to download all the info that Google has about you.
If you use Google Enterprise accounts, your admin can additionally configure it so they can:
- see and read all emails you send and receive, and whether you opened them
- see any and all email you have deleted (they will be hidden from you but not deleted)
- see all chats (Hangouts), their contents, times and who participated.
This feature is called Google Vault, Litigation Hold and eDisovery and costs extra (but is included in some of the higher tiers). Note that using this feature to access emails other than your own is illegal in some EU countries but not in the US.
What Google does NOT track:
- Recordings from your cell phone's microphone or camera. People occasionally claim that they get ads for a certain product just because they talked about it with their phone in the room. But that's coincidence or due to the fact that advertisers know which people are in vicinity of each other (family, location, same IP) and one of their peers searched for it, so the ad is shown to all people in that network etc. (more complicated than that but that's the gist).
Whether or not the tracking appears malicious to you probably depends on whether you think Google is evil or not. Better hope that they aren't ;-)
Disclaimer: Some of the info I mentioned might not be up-to-date. You can switch off some but not all of those "features". You can set auto-delete time frames for some but not all of these, too. Whether they are actually deleted or just hidden, who knows. If I made an error or you disagree, please don't mindlessly downvote but reply and correct me. Thank you.
So: All email are parsed for shopping info (price, product, quantity), shipping/tracking numbers (UPS, FedEx etc.), upcoming bills or reminders, what they are for and in which amount, dates & events (flight numbers, passenger names, booking codes, events, invitations, collaborations). How you deal with each email (delete it unread, categorize it or send it to spam) is also recorded and over time influences the behavior of your inbox (depending on your settings as well). Who sends you email and which groups of users you send email to (this will be used to identify your peer groups and Google will recommend you add a person if it thinks you forgot to CC them in an email).
All your attachments and all their contents are processed (to search for malware and/or illegal content).
All files you store on Google Drive are continuously monitored for size and content which might be illegal (such as porn) etc. and how many people look at them (if you share it with too many people, your account may be closed).
All your photos uploaded to Google Photos are used to train machine-learning algorithms for facial recognition and item identification.
All files on Google Drive that you delete, are not deleted right away.
All the Wi-fi passwords of networks you connect to on the phone, all Wi-Fi networks you pass but don't connect to and all the Bluetooth devices you connect to will also be stored (Google uses these for better location information if or when GPS is unavailable).
By default, if you are logged into your Google account while surfing the web and/or using Chrome, Google will also collect, store and connect with your identity
- each and every phrase you search (this feature is called Web Activity)
- all the apps you use, how often and how long (App Activity)
- every video you watch on YouTube, how long and whether you skip certain parts (this feature is called YouTube Search & Watch History)
- every location you visit with GPS enabled on your phone and/or navigate to using Google Maps (this feature is called Location History)
- all voice commands you input into Google search or Google assistant (this feature is called Voice & Audio Activity)
- any voicemail you receive on Gmail (through Google Voice) will be transcribed
This will be used to show you personalized ads but it will also be aggregated and used to analyze trends and patterns.
This is all on top of the usual stuff that Google collects by tracking you regardless of whether or not you are logged into your account, by virtue of having the largest ad network in the world which is embedded on all major websites.
You can find much of that information on myaccount.google.com and more if you order a "Google Takeout" which will allow you to download all the info that Google has about you.
If you use Google Enterprise accounts, your admin can additionally configure it so they can:
- see and read all emails you send and receive, and whether you opened them
- see any and all email you have deleted (they will be hidden from you but not deleted)
- see all chats (Hangouts), their contents, times and who participated.
This feature is called Google Vault, Litigation Hold and eDisovery and costs extra (but is included in some of the higher tiers). Note that using this feature to access emails other than your own is illegal in some EU countries but not in the US.
What Google does NOT track:
- Recordings from your cell phone's microphone or camera. People occasionally claim that they get ads for a certain product just because they talked about it with their phone in the room. But that's coincidence or due to the fact that advertisers know which people are in vicinity of each other (family, location, same IP) and one of their peers searched for it, so the ad is shown to all people in that network etc. (more complicated than that but that's the gist).
Whether or not the tracking appears malicious to you probably depends on whether you think Google is evil or not. Better hope that they aren't ;-)
Disclaimer: Some of the info I mentioned might not be up-to-date. You can switch off some but not all of those "features". You can set auto-delete time frames for some but not all of these, too. Whether they are actually deleted or just hidden, who knows. If I made an error or you disagree, please don't mindlessly downvote but reply and correct me. Thank you.
everything
Once I found out about it, this was what pushed me down the road towards de-googling. I keep the Gmail account around for legacy contacts (had it for like 15 years now?!), but I forward it all to my new, independent email account.
In theory I like the idea of grepping mail for genuinely useful things. But I don't trust Google to do it. Or any corporation.
In theory I like the idea of grepping mail for genuinely useful things. But I don't trust Google to do it. Or any corporation.
Why is this headline reporting that as fact, when the only salient facts in the article are "the purchases tab exists in Gmail" and "Google has stated this information is only available to the user?"
https://developers.google.com/gmail/markup/reference
Not just any email sender is allowed to use them though.