4 ms·

This reads like a FUD hit piece. Anyone have any actual data/evidence on what's going on?

kyrra 8y ago
WSJ started this article, who is owned by News Corp. News Corp occasionally does anti Google and Facebook pieces. See: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/may/04/google-facebook-not-playing-by-the-rules-news-corp-tells-accc https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/may/04/google-faceboo... And: https://www.recode.net/2017/6/26/15878518/yelp-oracle-news-corp-letter-supporting-eu-action-against-google-antitrust https://www.recode.net/2017/6/26/15878518/yelp-oracle-news-c... (Disclaimer: I'm a Google employee, but also an avid WSJ reader)
- drb91 8y ago
  Who doesn’t occasionally do anti-Google pieces? I’d be more skeptical if they didn’t! That said, this does smell like a hit job.
  - kyrra 8y ago
    Listened to a short podcast (9 minutes) with the author of The Wall Street Journal piece, and my impression was this was done as an investigative piece to see if they could find any bad actors using the system Gmail. they weren't able to find any specific actors, but they spelled out how the system was used and potentially how it could be abused. Podcast: https://pca.st/9jFw https://pca.st/9jFw
lalalander 8y ago
I found an article on Macrumors[0] that specifically points out a company for doing so. Not sure if this Forbes article was referring to them. [0]: https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/02/third-party-email-apps-reading-user-emails/ https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/02/third-party-email-apps-...
bitmapbrother 8y ago
There isn't anything going on with the exception of ignorance on the part of the WSJ, Forbes and The Verge. You're explicitly granting a third party app access to your email. If I decide to use Outlook for iOS or Android I'm granting Microsoft permission to access my Apple email or Gmail.
rococode 8y ago
Yeah, it's not clear from the article how this is much different from "Google lets app developers look at all your photos" and "Google lets apps keep track of your location". Like uh, ok, obviously. The author even admits it's "unsurprising", so what's the point of the article? It may not be a morally good practice but it's an extremely common one and hardly newsworthy. I get that there's some tie trying to be made between this and Cambridge Analytica but it seems like a huge stretch.

WSJ started this article, who is owned by News Corp. News Corp occasionally does anti Google and Facebook pieces. See: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/may/04/google-facebook-not-playing-by-the-rules-news-corp-tells-accc https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/may/04/google-faceboo... And: https://www.recode.net/2017/6/26/15878518/yelp-oracle-news-corp-letter-supporting-eu-action-against-google-antitrust https://www.recode.net/2017/6/26/15878518/yelp-oracle-news-c... (Disclaimer: I'm a Google employee, but also an avid WSJ reader)

drb91 8y ago
Who doesn’t occasionally do anti-Google pieces? I’d be more skeptical if they didn’t! That said, this does smell like a hit job.
- kyrra 8y ago
  Listened to a short podcast (9 minutes) with the author of The Wall Street Journal piece, and my impression was this was done as an investigative piece to see if they could find any bad actors using the system Gmail. they weren't able to find any specific actors, but they spelled out how the system was used and potentially how it could be abused. Podcast: https://pca.st/9jFw https://pca.st/9jFw

lalalander 8y ago

I found an article on Macrumors[0] that specifically points out a company for doing so. Not sure if this Forbes article was referring to them. [0]: https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/02/third-party-email-apps-reading-user-emails/ https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/02/third-party-email-apps-...

bitmapbrother 8y ago

There isn't anything going on with the exception of ignorance on the part of the WSJ, Forbes and The Verge. You're explicitly granting a third party app access to your email. If I decide to use Outlook for iOS or Android I'm granting Microsoft permission to access my Apple email or Gmail.

rococode 8y ago

Yeah, it's not clear from the article how this is much different from "Google lets app developers look at all your photos" and "Google lets apps keep track of your location". Like uh, ok, obviously. The author even admits it's "unsurprising", so what's the point of the article? It may not be a morally good practice but it's an extremely common one and hardly newsworthy. I get that there's some tie trying to be made between this and Cambridge Analytica but it seems like a huge stretch.