EFF kicks off Gmail's new confidential mode to provide a false sense of security

Last April, Google announced the redesign of the Gmail web interface, as well as new features intended to provide safer ways to send emails. Now that users and security experts have had plenty of time to test the new features, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says Google is selling its new confidential mode.

The EFF states that there is really nothing "confidential" about these features and that almost every aspect of their design is overrated or downright misleading to users. The civil liberties group says that for beginners, the email is still not encrypted end-to-end, giving Google the ability to always read the content.

Also, if you can send an e-mail that the recipient can not forward to another person or print a hard copy, nothing prevents him from taking a catch. screen And the "self-destructive" function of e-mails is also somewhat misleading according to the FEP.

"Contrary to what the name" expiring "might suggest, these messages continue to hang out long after their expiration date. for example, in your "Sent" folder, writes the EFF, but not only does the sender always have a copy of the message in his sent folder, but it is also recoverable – of course – by Google. the appearance that the e-mail message will completely "disappear" after a certain time frame, this is not at all the case in practice.

Another feature that Google describes as an enhancement of security actually works in favor of the company to deepen the details of the user. The ability to require two-factor authentication for a recipient to read an e-mail requires that person's phone number for authentication. And that's where the ERF lies:

Google generates and sends this code to your recipient, which means you may need to tell Google the phone number of your recipient, potentially without the consent of your recipient

[19459008SiGooglenedisposepasdecesdisformationsl'OptionofSMSCodeOptionallowsGooglecomponentofthepotentiallytypeselectingcomponents:aaddressandmailandphonenumber

Google charges the confidential mode as security a set of tools intended to secure communications By e-mail, users should perhaps take a "pay attention to the buyer" approach and check if these features meet your personal or professional privacy requirements instead of getting into the thick of things. [ad_2]
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