Gimme my Gmail!
Comments
Most of the links I posted in the entry were the result of some articles I read discussing the “privacy issues” that people are in a huff over. (People who haven’t even used Gmail yet, I might add.) I’d meant to include that, but I guess I got overwhelmed by the number of links I had going about it! [grin]
Anyway, the Motley Fool has an article that mentions some of the privacy issues. In particular:
One worry: Copies of email will remain on the system even if deleted or after account termination.
I have to agree with them: if that is one of the features then it is a bit scary. I don’t see any immediate reasons why keeping copies of someone else’s email which they’ve deleted themselves would be relevant. That one does concern me a bit.
I’ve got no problem, though, with targetted ads being served based on the content of my email. If I’ve got something really sensitive to send, then I shouldn’t be doing it over a free email service in the first place and I shouldn’t be doing it unencrypted. Plus, it looks as though you won’t only be seeing ads (and not with every message/page) but also relevant Google search results, which could be really cool.
I’d heard about the Spymac offering, but it’s really not that interesting to me. My issue isn’t with the whole 1GB of storage (though, certainly, more than the 2-4MB that’s typical would be appreciated) but rather with the features and capabilities that are going to go along with the Gmail service. Google’s searching power, threaded conversations, and those really nifty features mentioned in some of the links I shared. Those are what’s going to make Gmail special, not the amount of storage.
Yeah, the size is really grossly unneeded, but I really can’t imagine using Hotmail or Yahoo’s email for my primary static email account. Maybe I just need to dig deeper into other alternatives.
Like you said, though, if you have something secure to send, you have 1001 options outside of using a free webbased email acount from any provider.
Cory Doctorow reprinted some commentary by John Gilmore regarding Google’s draft version of the Gmail Terms of Service.
I don’t doubt or deny that there are some questionable things in the ToS, but I also think this is one of those “if you really go looking for it then you’ll find it somewhere” type things.
Here’s a neat site that will show you whether a certain username is still available at Google’s Gmail.com. http://www.sizzly.com/gmail.php It’s useful for choosing names while waiting for the service to go public.
Ditto that. There’s a minor stink going around about its “invasiveness” that it reads your emails to target advertising to you. While some things labelled as “Big Brother” certainly smell fishy, come on, people...Google doesn’t care that you emailed a dirty joke to your cousin. Their advertising is only effective when it targets the content of the current email---so I’m going to bet that your emails aren’t stored anywhere after you delete them, and wouldn’t be available for subpoena anyway unless you did something VERY bad, in which case you DESERVE to have your life exposed and ruined.
On the subject, Spymac is already offering 1GB of free email space. The email features are good; not quite as robust as what Gmail is touting, but it’s ad-free, and also comes with plenty of features useful to Mac and PC users alike. Free blog, free image gallery, etc. etc. Here’s the snag. I can’t register. I tried, and PHP coughed out a sendmail error during the registration routine (ironic, eh?). Their tech support hasn’t replied to my emails (which I’m not even sure they’re getting), and they don’t allow unregistered users to post in the tech support forum. Good job, Spymac. Advertise yourself as ahead of Google on a service that’s not ready to be hit by the masses. *sarcastic slow golf claps*
By Derek Jones on April 7, 2004 at 11:37am link