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I mean, I have installed a third party gmail client. So the app can read my email. And that means the developers of the app have access to my email. Which is

by Lazare 8y ago

I mean, I have installed a third party gmail client. So the app can read my email. And that means the developers of the app have access to my email. Which is why I think very carefully before install third party gmail clients! That's...how this works. Right? I'm a little confused honestly; how is the headline not just a fancy way of saying "Google supports third party email clients"? Or even "Google supports IMAP"? Wouldn't the real scandal be if they didn't? There's always a tension between freedom and security here, but I'm honestly not at all okay with the balance this article seems to be advocating.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ucaetano 8y ago
The article started from the WSJ, who's been running a long campaign against Google as part of Murdoch's empire.
- fjsolwmv 8y ago
  Ad hominem is not appropriate. Do you have a substantive disagreement with the claims in the article, that 3rd parties are less trustworthy than 1st party Google? Google itself has reported major privacy /security bugs in third party integrations.
  - ucaetano 8y ago
    You didn't read the article, did you?
pacala 8y ago
How about sandboxing apps with access to sensitive private information from network access? I don't want my email to leave my desktop / mobile phone / Google's server, is it really that hard to have that as an option?
- lern_too_spel 8y ago
  > I don't want my email to leave my desktop / mobile phone / Google's server, is it really that hard to have that as an option? That option exists. It's called not adding a third party app to your Gmail and clicking its consent button.
  - pacala 8y ago
    Absolutely. Even better, just not use GMail until they start taking data protection seriously.
    - sp332 8y ago
      How could gmail take it more seriously? They even encrypt the links between their datacenters.
    - lern_too_spel 8y ago
      Every other email provider also provides API access to email, typically via IMAP or POP. Your suggestion then is (instead of simply not authorizing third parties to have access to your email) to not use email at all?
      - pacala 8y ago
        There is quite a bit of friction when setting up IMAP/POP access to an email provider. If I go to the trouble of setting up IMAP/POP, it's likely I know what I am doing. To the best of my understanding, the article is about 1-click permission granting / data leak.
  - fjsolwmv 8y ago
    That's a rather poor option. Mac App Store and Android for example offers much better sandboxing options.
- Lazare 8y ago
  > is it really that hard to have that as an option? Okay, so now you have a third party email app that...can't send and receive email? It's not that it's hard, it's that it's basically precluded by the nature of what we're trying to achieve. I installed a third party email app so that it could talk to the network. That's what email apps do! :) The solution for you, I think, is to just not use anything but the official gmail app while on a trusted device and network. Very sensible! But not a good option for everyone.
fjsolwmv 8y ago
There's a difference between IMAP software on your machine, and a third party company that does who knows what with your email.

by Lazare 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ucaetano 8y ago

The article started from the WSJ, who's been running a long campaign against Google as part of Murdoch's empire.

fjsolwmv 8y ago
Ad hominem is not appropriate. Do you have a substantive disagreement with the claims in the article, that 3rd parties are less trustworthy than 1st party Google? Google itself has reported major privacy /security bugs in third party integrations.
- ucaetano 8y ago
  You didn't read the article, did you?

pacala 8y ago

How about sandboxing apps with access to sensitive private information from network access? I don't want my email to leave my desktop / mobile phone / Google's server, is it really that hard to have that as an option?

lern_too_spel 8y ago
> I don't want my email to leave my desktop / mobile phone / Google's server, is it really that hard to have that as an option? That option exists. It's called not adding a third party app to your Gmail and clicking its consent button.
- pacala 8y ago
  Absolutely. Even better, just not use GMail until they start taking data protection seriously.
  - sp332 8y ago
    How could gmail take it more seriously? They even encrypt the links between their datacenters.
  - lern_too_spel 8y ago
    Every other email provider also provides API access to email, typically via IMAP or POP. Your suggestion then is (instead of simply not authorizing third parties to have access to your email) to not use email at all?
    - pacala 8y ago
      There is quite a bit of friction when setting up IMAP/POP access to an email provider. If I go to the trouble of setting up IMAP/POP, it's likely I know what I am doing. To the best of my understanding, the article is about 1-click permission granting / data leak.
- fjsolwmv 8y ago
  That's a rather poor option. Mac App Store and Android for example offers much better sandboxing options.
Lazare 8y ago
> is it really that hard to have that as an option? Okay, so now you have a third party email app that...can't send and receive email? It's not that it's hard, it's that it's basically precluded by the nature of what we're trying to achieve. I installed a third party email app so that it could talk to the network. That's what email apps do! :) The solution for you, I think, is to just not use anything but the official gmail app while on a trusted device and network. Very sensible! But not a good option for everyone.

fjsolwmv 8y ago

There's a difference between IMAP software on your machine, and a third party company that does who knows what with your email.