7 ms·

I think it's more talking about gmail purchase records, which can be viewed here: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/category%3Apurchases https://mail.goo

by Eighth 5y ago

I think it's more talking about gmail purchase records, which can be viewed here: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/category%3Apurchases https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/category%3Apurchase...

potatoman22 5y ago
It's pretty deceptive that they don't disclose these are categorized and stored for advertising purposes. That's unethical IMO.
- eth0up 5y ago
  On the About Gmail page, in large bold text is stated: "We never use your Gmail content for any ads purposes" emphasis mine. That might qualify as deceptive.
  - jsnell 5y ago
    Why do you think that this is being used for advertising purposes? Because HN user potatoman22 asserted that with no evidence?
    - eth0up 5y ago
      Yes, because whimsical potato, I am true, fearless believer and desciple, hater of evidence, prophet of assumption, protector of anonymous tubers. Not because google is in the business of data and advertising or has the ability to cleverly manipulate language to their advantage or would ever consider being evil. I'm quite confident google wouldn't use such data in ways that could be connected to advertising. All your google data are belong to privacy.
      - nindalf 5y ago
        > Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        eth0up 5y ago
        Bear in mind that while I can't refute you, the parent question was pretty snarky in its implication.
      - potatoman22 5y ago
        HAIL THEE, MAN OF POTATO
    - potatoman22 5y ago
      I don't have any evidence, I just assumed it was being used for that from other discussion on this post.
      - jsnell 5y ago
        Right, and in the absence of evidence making assumptions is a very natural human thing to do. But eth0up went through the trouble of finding pretty compelling evidence that the data was not being used for advertising purposes, quoted it, and still chose to believe the opposite.
  - sorokod 5y ago
    Compare and contrast with "We will never use...'
floatingatoll 5y ago
Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, there is no UI for removing this category when it's incorrect or when I wish to opt out. Ironically, since the only purchases my Gmail contains receipts for are for someone who isn't me but apparently decided to use my email address, whatever database these are feeding that Google thinks is "about me" is steadily being corrupted to death by a complete stranger. Oh well :)
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  > Oh well :) Not going to be so great when they engage in criminal activity that points back to you. I do a password reset on their account whenever I find someone using my email. Then you can change the email to a throwaway or delete the account. It's unsafe to let it be.
  - floatingatoll 5y ago
    There is a long paper trail full of evidence of my attempting to contact people to get them to stop sending me someone else's email. If some idiotic prosecutor can't tell the difference between some jerk in Missouri and me, they deserve the judge's derision when the confusion is uncovered. Gmail does not allow changing email addresses, and if I delete the account, I lose access to a recovery email that I'm executing a multi-year migration away from. That's simply not an acceptable step to take to mitigate the unlikely risk you describe. There's also some jerk at AOL who forwarded their email to me mistakenly over a decade ago, and I've tried to contact AOL, which of course they won't consider since I'm not the person who set the broken forward. While I appreciate your concern, I've already taken it into consideration as best as permitted by the tools available. If you are aware of a way to change a gmail address without creating a new Google Account, then of course I would love to hear about it.
    - OldHand2018 5y ago
      It's a lost cause. I'm over a decade into the transition you are undertaking and I've basically just accepted that it will always be an account I can't get rid of - so I use it as a "you need my email address but I don't trust you" account. Nobody ever has any concern if you give them a gmail account. Over 50% of the email this account receives is for other people and frequently the "To:" field isn't even an exact match for my address! If you do start getting stuff that looks like it might cause you problems: be proactive. Do not wait around to embarrass some prosecutor. By that time, you've already spent thousands of dollars and had your reputation dragged through the mud. I once started getting legal threats meant for someone else. I had a lawyer call up that lawyer and it was cleared up in less than 10 minutes. Another time I started getting emails from/to a person with the same name as me at the State Department that definitely should not have been sent through a non-government server. I talked to someone I knew at the US Attorneys Office about it and those emails stopped immediately (doubt that guy still works there, LOL).
comeonseriously 5y ago
Interesting. So, my gmail is fname.i.lname@gmail.com. I see SOMEONE else's purchase in my history. That persons name is shown as fname lname@gmail.com. Same as mine except .i. is three spaces. WTF? Does Google have a bug here? Is there an actual real life human I could send this to? Edit: the only purchase I see of mine are for Apps I bought from the play store. These don't show up in the link that the Googler posted above.
- ahzhou 5y ago
  Sounds like a security flaw. I’d submit it to a big bounty program.
  - usmannk 5y ago
    The other person probably just entered OP's email address. I don't really get what OP is saying but make sure to note that periods are normalized out.
    - pempem 5y ago
      they are saying us.middlename.mannk@gmail is seeing receipts for us.mannk@gmail.com The dots don't matter.
      - comeonseriously 5y ago
        Exactly this.
        usmannk 5y ago
        I see, but these "receipts" are just emails. I would be extremely surprised if someone else's emails are getting routed to your gmail inbox. Seems very unlikely...
        pempem 5y ago

by Eighth 5y ago

potatoman22 5y ago

It's pretty deceptive that they don't disclose these are categorized and stored for advertising purposes. That's unethical IMO.

eth0up 5y ago
On the About Gmail page, in large bold text is stated: "We never use your Gmail content for any ads purposes" emphasis mine. That might qualify as deceptive.
- jsnell 5y ago
  Why do you think that this is being used for advertising purposes? Because HN user potatoman22 asserted that with no evidence?
  - eth0up 5y ago
    Yes, because whimsical potato, I am true, fearless believer and desciple, hater of evidence, prophet of assumption, protector of anonymous tubers. Not because google is in the business of data and advertising or has the ability to cleverly manipulate language to their advantage or would ever consider being evil. I'm quite confident google wouldn't use such data in ways that could be connected to advertising. All your google data are belong to privacy.
    - nindalf 5y ago
      > Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - eth0up 5y ago
        Bear in mind that while I can't refute you, the parent question was pretty snarky in its implication.
    - potatoman22 5y ago
      HAIL THEE, MAN OF POTATO
  - potatoman22 5y ago
    I don't have any evidence, I just assumed it was being used for that from other discussion on this post.
    - jsnell 5y ago
      Right, and in the absence of evidence making assumptions is a very natural human thing to do. But eth0up went through the trouble of finding pretty compelling evidence that the data was not being used for advertising purposes, quoted it, and still chose to believe the opposite.
- sorokod 5y ago
  Compare and contrast with "We will never use...'

floatingatoll 5y ago

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, there is no UI for removing this category when it's incorrect or when I wish to opt out. Ironically, since the only purchases my Gmail contains receipts for are for someone who isn't me but apparently decided to use my email address, whatever database these are feeding that Google thinks is "about me" is steadily being corrupted to death by a complete stranger. Oh well :)

kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
> Oh well :) Not going to be so great when they engage in criminal activity that points back to you. I do a password reset on their account whenever I find someone using my email. Then you can change the email to a throwaway or delete the account. It's unsafe to let it be.
- floatingatoll 5y ago
  There is a long paper trail full of evidence of my attempting to contact people to get them to stop sending me someone else's email. If some idiotic prosecutor can't tell the difference between some jerk in Missouri and me, they deserve the judge's derision when the confusion is uncovered. Gmail does not allow changing email addresses, and if I delete the account, I lose access to a recovery email that I'm executing a multi-year migration away from. That's simply not an acceptable step to take to mitigate the unlikely risk you describe. There's also some jerk at AOL who forwarded their email to me mistakenly over a decade ago, and I've tried to contact AOL, which of course they won't consider since I'm not the person who set the broken forward. While I appreciate your concern, I've already taken it into consideration as best as permitted by the tools available. If you are aware of a way to change a gmail address without creating a new Google Account, then of course I would love to hear about it.
  - OldHand2018 5y ago
    It's a lost cause. I'm over a decade into the transition you are undertaking and I've basically just accepted that it will always be an account I can't get rid of - so I use it as a "you need my email address but I don't trust you" account. Nobody ever has any concern if you give them a gmail account. Over 50% of the email this account receives is for other people and frequently the "To:" field isn't even an exact match for my address! If you do start getting stuff that looks like it might cause you problems: be proactive. Do not wait around to embarrass some prosecutor. By that time, you've already spent thousands of dollars and had your reputation dragged through the mud. I once started getting legal threats meant for someone else. I had a lawyer call up that lawyer and it was cleared up in less than 10 minutes. Another time I started getting emails from/to a person with the same name as me at the State Department that definitely should not have been sent through a non-government server. I talked to someone I knew at the US Attorneys Office about it and those emails stopped immediately (doubt that guy still works there, LOL).

comeonseriously 5y ago

Interesting. So, my gmail is fname.i.lname@gmail.com. I see SOMEONE else's purchase in my history. That persons name is shown as fname lname@gmail.com. Same as mine except .i. is three spaces. WTF? Does Google have a bug here? Is there an actual real life human I could send this to? Edit: the only purchase I see of mine are for Apps I bought from the play store. These don't show up in the link that the Googler posted above.

ahzhou 5y ago
Sounds like a security flaw. I’d submit it to a big bounty program.
- usmannk 5y ago
  The other person probably just entered OP's email address. I don't really get what OP is saying but make sure to note that periods are normalized out.
  - pempem 5y ago
    they are saying us.middlename.mannk@gmail is seeing receipts for us.mannk@gmail.com The dots don't matter.
    - comeonseriously 5y ago
      Exactly this.
      - usmannk 5y ago
        I see, but these "receipts" are just emails. I would be extremely surprised if someone else's emails are getting routed to your gmail inbox. Seems very unlikely...
        pempem 5y ago