NYT: Internet Ad You Are About to See Has...Read Your E-Mail

[DeepModem Mom]

ADVERTISING
The Internet Ad You Are About to See Has Already Read Your E-Mail
By SAUL HANSELL

Published: June 21, 2004


When Google announced in April that it would test a free Web-based e-mail service that offered users vastly more storage space than its rivals, it introduced one twist - the ads that users see when they read their mail would be related to the subject mentioned in the message.

So if your friend sends you a message about his vacation in Florida, you will see text ads for beach resorts to the right of the message. When your mother writes about her new digital camera, photography ads appear.

The ads appear on messages received by Gmail users; the e-mail sender does not need to be a user of Gmail. Privacy advocates were deeply offended by a product that scanned private e-mail and could potentially send offensive ads to e-mail recipients - and for many, those aspects of Gmail remain troubling.

But the service turns out to have some interesting self-imposed constraints. Google has created what is the electronic equivalent of a television network's standards and practices department to determine which e-mail messages are suitable for ads and which are not....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/21/technology/21google.html

[Mr.Green93]

1. I'm going to get some strange ads

[DeepModem Mom]

2. "Google will not display ads...

on e-mail messages with words related to sex, guns, drugs and other topics it considers off limits." LOL!

[0rganism]

3. I wonder what else is on that list

"...liberal, democrat, FDR, Chomsky, France..."

[KDLarsen]

4. "Privacy advocates were deeply offended..."

.. so, are thees guys also offended when their anti-virus program scans their emails for virus?

Sorry guys, but based on what I've been told, Google's system won't be more intrusive than your every day anti virus program.

[disinfo_guy]

9. nonsense

the virus scanner isn't processing human language and building a profile on your based on words you and your friends use in email.

[silverpatronus]

5. i knew i was right...

to ignore the gmail craze sweeping livejournal...

[Citizen Daryl]

6. Not just Livejournal.

Actually, I've been using the service and I kinda like it. I use it for my mailing lists.

I've had no reason to distrust Google with Gmail any more than I distrust them with their search engine. Because let's face it, if there was any privacy to be invaded, it'd be our search results.

[sendero]

7. Why would anyone....

.... use gmail? There are gazillions of services that are free and don't jack with your message, or maybe add an ignorable footer.

I used to really like Google. Money fever has fried all of their brains apparently. They should enjoy their apogee because the things that made them great have been disappearing at a rapid rate since they decided to go public.

[abburdlen]

8. Because it rocks.

I do use gmail. Threaded messages, virtually unlimited mailbox space and discrete, rather than giant in your face pop-up, ads.

I've got two invites for gmail pm if you'd like to give it a try.

[nodehopper]

10. because it's 1,000 megabites. No other service has that.

Yahoo mail has 2.

[sendero]

14. Wrong...

.... Yahoo just went to 100 mb.

Google has gone the way of almost all public corporations. They forget what put them there.

They recently changed their search algorithm to screw over everyone except their "adwords" customers, screwing millions of small businesspersons in the process. I still use their search engine, but I never click a sponsored link, if I'm interested I find another way to get there.

I don't have a problem with SEs getting paid, but Google is acting more and more like Microsoft every day. The difference is that there is real competition in the SE game and Google no longer has a lock on the action because they have hurt a lot of people.

[depakid]

11. Google apologists crack me up

If you want to spam your friends or people on your e-mail lists - fine- but understand that some people will filter it out and even if they don't, most will NOT appeciate it. Frankly, it makes you look like a jerk.

[abburdlen]

12. Frankly

I thought making assumptions without checking out the facts made one look like a jerk, but thats just me.

Those google ads don't get added to e-mail messages. No one gets spammed from gmail. When using the gmail interface, ads are displayed on the right side of the screen. The only folks that get those target ads are the people who use gmail. It really is no bigger deal than the ads that show up for google searches.

[depakid]

13. I stand corrected on that point

So, if people want to use the service and be spammed- that's fine by me-

With respect to ads in general, my preference is to filter them out- though obviously you can't do that with "sponsored links" and other pay for placement schemes.

[Boat Guy]

18. And you know what?

The ads actually don't even register with me when I'm reading emails -- it's as if my brain has already adapted to mentally "blocking out" the visual space where they appear. I've been using Gmail since it first went online, I read dozens of emails every day, and I couldn't tell you the subject or content of a single ad -- I'm their worst nightmare come true!

[Hoping4Change]

22. Ahoy there boatguy

welcome aboard the DU matey. :bounce:

[xeyr]

15. same as SPAM testing

That is of absolutely no concern whatsoever.

Did you know that any emails sent to someone with a Spam Filter are scanned? And unlike Virus scanning, they are scanned for "readable content", and also, depending on the spam prevention software, the results can be kept, particularly if the spam filter is something "adaptive" that is designed to learn the small changes that spammers make. So a lot of ISPs that now offer spam filtering are "reading" your email too.

Yes, it could potentially be misused. But hello? Any email service provider would have the power to read your emails and forward them to an advertising agency. I run a webhosting business, and I could, if I so desired, work my way into every single email stored on my servers by my clients and trawl through them. But I don't, because it's unprofessional, unethical and (the kicker) if I DID, word would get out and I'd find I had a whole lot less clients in the morning. The same applies to gmail - if it came out that they were abusing the trust gmail users put in them, they'd find out there'd be a storm on the horizon. And if they started sending targeted spam emails, then again, trouble. But they are not about to do that. What they do is read "Dad, my travel itinerary" and put an ad for a travel agency somewhere on the side of my screen that I barely notice.

If ANYONE wanted to abuse your privacy, it could be done. Google is far from the only service that has access to your details. Anyone you buy stuff from with a credit card has far more, for example. And do you have a telephone?

That's the point of legislation, as well as delegating tasks that require very sensitive data as "computer only".

(sorry - bit of a long winded entrance to the forums!)

[DeepModem Mom]

16. Welcome to DU, xeyr!

[newyawker99]

20. Hi xeyr!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Hoping4Change]

23. Holy smokes xeyr!!

This is your first post. A big hello, welcome to DU.:party:

[recon54]

17. If you want a gig of free space, try...

http://www.spymac.com -- although if you hate macs, you might not like the interface. Of course, anyone (PC or Mac) can use it, they offer a 1 gig of free space and other stuff.

No, I don't work for them.

[DeepModem Mom]

19. Welcome, recon54!

[Hoping4Change]

21. Hi there recon54

Glad to have you here, welcome to DU:hi:

[Moderator]

24. kick

.