Google is watching your emails. Very closely. And it's being very brazen about it.
The internet giant has updated its T&Cs for Gmail users to clarify its position on the way it scans every email sent or received by its servers.
Gmail users may also find their profile information, including name, photo and activity on third party sites like Google+ or they may appear in ads. But users can change the privacy settings to disable it and make sure they don't appear in ads.
Google isn't doing anything it hasn't been doing already, but the shift is in how open it's being about it. But, in return users get “relevant product features, customised search results, tailored advertising.”
In a statement earlier this week, Google said: "Our automated systems analyse your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customised search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection. This analysis occurs as the content is sent, received, and when it is stored."
Google has been criticised for the practice of scanning email content and many users are unaware it goes on. The move to clarify comes after Google was involved in a federal lawsuit in the US which rejected its claims that users give implied consent to Google to scan email content.
Here's a segment of the Google statement but you can read the full T&Cs here.
"When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing you have added to Google Maps). Some Services may offer you ways to access and remove content that has been provided to that Service. Also, in some of our Services, there are terms or settings that narrow the scope of our use of the content submitted in those Services. Make sure you have the necessary rights to grant us this license for any content that you submit to our Services.
"Our automated systems analyze your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customized search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection. This analysis occurs as the content is sent, received, and when it is stored.
"If you have a Google Account, we may display your Profile name, Profile photo, and actions you take on Google or on third-party applications connected to your Google Account (such as +1’s, reviews you write and comments you post) in our Services, including displaying in ads and other commercial contexts. We will respect the choices you make to limit sharing or visibility settings in your Google Account. For example, you can choose your settings so your name and photo do not appear in an ad.
"You can find more information about how Google uses and stores content in the privacy policy or additional terms for particular Services. If you submit feedback or suggestions about our Services, we may use your feedback or suggestions without obligation to you."
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