This is so that you deny companies access to your Gmail account

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that hundreds of software developers had access to Gmail inboxes, often without Gmail users noticing

. you are already subscribed to e-mail services that compare prices or ensure that your itinerary ends automatically in your journal.

Of course, scanning inboxes is done mostly automatically, but it also happens that employees of software developers read emails to train their software, The Wall Street Journal discovered.

According to all the companies involved, this practice is in line with usage agreements that almost no users read and there are strict rules for employees who read e-mails.

Revoke Access

But it's not a good idea, of course, that people can rummage through your e-mails. If you'd like to see which companies have access to your Gmail account, you can do so through your Google Account page.

Under the heading "Login and Security", choose the link "Applications with access to your account". Here is a list of programs that have access to your Google Account.

Then click "Manage Apps" to see exactly what this access means: does a program have access to Google Drive, Google Calendar, or Gmail? For example, some software programs can "read, send, delete and manage your e-mails". Click the appropriate application to revoke access to your Gmail account.