4 ms·

> So every time a twitter executive sends an email, > people at Google can read it? Can they, legally?

tallanvor 11y ago
Legally I'm sure there's something in the TOS or contract that allows them to access the data if necessary. Realistically, the number of people who can actually access customer data such as email and documents is probably quite small and heavily audited. Even accessing scrubbed telemetry data is probably audited.
- sumedh 11y ago
  You never know if there is backdoor and someone might be reading all the emails.
- desdiv 11y ago
  >Realistically, the number of people who can actually access customer data such as email and documents is probably quite small and heavily audited. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/30/google-reports-nsa-secretly-intercepts-data-links http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/30/google-rep... Realistically, Google had no idea who had access to their customer data back then.
4684499 11y ago
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/15/gmail-scans-all-emails-new-google-terms-clarify http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/15/gmail-scan...
pjc50 11y ago
The US doesn't have a data protection law, nor a general privacy law. "Trade secret" protection and regular copyright are all you have. Edit in response to downvote: OK, there's the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stored_Communications_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stored_Communications_Act . Whic prevents them from 'divulging' the contents of the email. However, it doesn't prevent automated processing (as used by gmail advertising). So you can see where this is going: is it illegal to ask the computer for a count of the uses of the word "merger" in emails belonging to users of a particular domain?
- djhn 11y ago
  As a non-US citizen, this shocks me, even if it shouldn't by now. Does this indeed make it legal for a "chief corporate espionage officer" at Google to have a handy little dashboard of competitors inboxes? Can trade secrets only be defined by courts retrospectively?

Legally I'm sure there's something in the TOS or contract that allows them to access the data if necessary. Realistically, the number of people who can actually access customer data such as email and documents is probably quite small and heavily audited. Even accessing scrubbed telemetry data is probably audited.

sumedh 11y ago
You never know if there is backdoor and someone might be reading all the emails.
desdiv 11y ago
>Realistically, the number of people who can actually access customer data such as email and documents is probably quite small and heavily audited. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/30/google-reports-nsa-secretly-intercepts-data-links http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/30/google-rep... Realistically, Google had no idea who had access to their customer data back then.

4684499 11y ago

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/15/gmail-scans-all-emails-new-google-terms-clarify http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/15/gmail-scan...

pjc50 11y ago

The US doesn't have a data protection law, nor a general privacy law. "Trade secret" protection and regular copyright are all you have. Edit in response to downvote: OK, there's the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stored_Communications_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stored_Communications_Act . Whic prevents them from 'divulging' the contents of the email. However, it doesn't prevent automated processing (as used by gmail advertising). So you can see where this is going: is it illegal to ask the computer for a count of the uses of the word "merger" in emails belonging to users of a particular domain?

djhn 11y ago
As a non-US citizen, this shocks me, even if it shouldn't by now. Does this indeed make it legal for a "chief corporate espionage officer" at Google to have a handy little dashboard of competitors inboxes? Can trade secrets only be defined by courts retrospectively?