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Why are people saying "this is obvious"? I'm a gmail user and I don't find it obvious. I just checked and I've never granted third-party access, but I would hav

Why are people saying "this is obvious"? I'm a gmail user and I don't find it obvious. I just checked and I've never granted third-party access, but I would have make the mistaken assumption that Google would never allow an app to request permission to read my email. They were very clear when they introduced ads based on your email that only a machine would read it. But by opening up access to third parties, they can no longer guarantee that. So this betrays their users and the expectations they have encouraged. It would have been so easy for me to click through a permissions request, as I would have assumed any permissions were pretty weak - use OAUTH to log in, maybe get my gender or age etc. If you've had cause to use some app that relies on email analysis then maybe you knew about this, but I'm guessing the vast majority of gmail users are like me, and have no idea an app could request the permission to read their email, and thus provide access to employees at third parties. The fact that this is being downplayed is disappointing, because it's not dissimilar to Facebook's behaviour in allowing third parties to read messages. I thought Google were different; I was wrong. Guess that switch to iCloud mail I was thinking about is now a priority.

fortenforge 8y ago
The part that you're missing is that you can't just "click through" a permissions request since it explicitly would include the line "This app can read all your emails". https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DiGeWx5UEVQ/WzswMQ9VV1I/AAAAAAAAxW0/sTCakcHOq58KHUqL8FD1GejHYSLQb35bQCLcBGAs/s728-e100/gmail-apps.png https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DiGeWx5UEVQ/WzswMQ9VV1I/AAAAAAAAx...
- randomsearch 8y ago
  Thanks for the image. This shows how ridiculously irresponsible Google's decision is - to allow such a huge permission to be given via a single click in the same way as much less important permissions - and even worse, mixed in with other requests. Alternatives they could have considered: 1. Don't do this at all - keep emails private and in your control. This is the sane solution. Make the user set up any apps with IMAP access as per a mail client. The friction here would make it much harder for the user to be deceived. 2. Allow it via the app permissions, but have a completely new approval screen for it to highlight just how important this is. The screen should have have a suitable graphic for a warning (stripes etc.) and say "WARNING - you about to...", following by a multi-click path to get around it. Then require a re-entry of password and TFA. Similar to Safari's certificate warnings when visiting websites [1]. 3. Build an infrastructure whereby an app can access information without it leaving Google. A sort of sandbox/walled garden where the only ways in and out are strict APIs. So a company would be able to extract summary data, but not individual mails. Don't know if this is possible; depends on the use case. Would only be partially effective. https://www.digicert.com/blog/safari-11-introduces-improved-ui-certificate-warnings/ https://www.digicert.com/blog/safari-11-introduces-improved-...

fortenforge 8y ago

The part that you're missing is that you can't just "click through" a permissions request since it explicitly would include the line "This app can read all your emails". https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DiGeWx5UEVQ/WzswMQ9VV1I/AAAAAAAAxW0/sTCakcHOq58KHUqL8FD1GejHYSLQb35bQCLcBGAs/s728-e100/gmail-apps.png https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DiGeWx5UEVQ/WzswMQ9VV1I/AAAAAAAAx...

randomsearch 8y ago
Thanks for the image. This shows how ridiculously irresponsible Google's decision is - to allow such a huge permission to be given via a single click in the same way as much less important permissions - and even worse, mixed in with other requests. Alternatives they could have considered: 1. Don't do this at all - keep emails private and in your control. This is the sane solution. Make the user set up any apps with IMAP access as per a mail client. The friction here would make it much harder for the user to be deceived. 2. Allow it via the app permissions, but have a completely new approval screen for it to highlight just how important this is. The screen should have have a suitable graphic for a warning (stripes etc.) and say "WARNING - you about to...", following by a multi-click path to get around it. Then require a re-entry of password and TFA. Similar to Safari's certificate warnings when visiting websites [1]. 3. Build an infrastructure whereby an app can access information without it leaving Google. A sort of sandbox/walled garden where the only ways in and out are strict APIs. So a company would be able to extract summary data, but not individual mails. Don't know if this is possible; depends on the use case. Would only be partially effective. https://www.digicert.com/blog/safari-11-introduces-improved-ui-certificate-warnings/ https://www.digicert.com/blog/safari-11-introduces-improved-...