Gmail is supposed to allow third parties to access your mail ⊂ · ⊃ CURVED.com

External application developers seem to have access to the inbox of millions of Gmail accounts. They may be able to see e-mail addresses, metadata, and message content.

A year ago, Google promised to stop scanning its users' email accounts for personalized ads. However, external app developers should continue to have access to private emails, according to a Wall Street Journal report. In particular, users who have subscribed to messaging-based services such as price comparisons or automated travel planners are concerned.

Automatic and Manual Scanning

Application developers who are part of Google's Gmail program may be allowed to read these messages under certain circumstances to create new services or application features. The majority of e-mails would be automatically scanned by computer software, but in some cases human employees should have read. Return Path, an email marketing company, reportedly scanned the inboxes of more than 2 million people and spied on 8,000 e-mails.

Apparently, Google is not alone in its practices: These have long been common in the industry. The Wall Street Journal has already spoken to 25 current and former employees of application developers and data companies. Affected users would have granted access to services in most cases. However, it is not clear to them that their emails are automated or that people are wanted.

Google itself told The Verge that it only shared data with third-party audited developers, and only when users give their explicit consent, In addition, developers would have gone through a review process before To access it, where data protection plays an important role. There is no evidence that the procedure has led to misuse of the data.