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Google published a new blog post in response to a story from The Wall Street Journal yesterday that detailed how common it is for third-party application developers to be able to read and analyze the content of a Gmail message from the user. While not offering new insights into industry practices, now widely spread, Google describes the steps that a user and a professional organization can use to protect their privacy and security. The company also reiterates its commitment to control third-party applications and services that have access to sensitive Gmail data.
"A dynamic ecosystem of non-Google apps gives you the choice and helps you get the most out of your email," writes Suzanne Frey, Director of the Security, Trust and Security Division. Confidentiality of the company. from Google Cloud. "However, before a published non-Google app can access your Gmail messages, it goes through a multi-step review process that includes an automated and manual review of the developer, an evaluation of the privacy policy." and a home page of the app, application, and in-app tests to make sure the app works as it says. "
Frey offers some tips to make sure your data is in the hands of reliable sources. In particular, you can view the permissions screen before giving access to an application other than Google and use the company's security verification tool to check which devices are connected to your account, which applications third parties have access to Gmail and what are these permissions. It also states that the Google review process is designed to ensure that companies and individuals are not mistaken and only ask for data relevant to the function they provide.
Although the WSJ story did not uncover any malfunctions in third-party applications or services using Gmail, it shed light on an industrial practice previously unobtrusively scrutinized as a result of Cambridge's Analytica Facebook. privacy scandal. Facebook has allowed third-party application developers to generously access user data for years, creating a situation in which tens of millions of people had their personal information packaged and sold to a consumer company. data mining without the appropriate consent. Google is now forced to more actively defend its own data management and user privacy practices, primarily to convince users and businesses that, unlike Facebook, Google is actually a manager responsible for sensitive user data.
Last year, Google announced that it would stop analyzing the content of Gmail users' messages for advertising purposes as part of a strategy to make its offer G Suite more attractive for business customers. Google has found, well before Cambridge Analytica, that it was not a particularly smart business strategy to target ads based on private conversations, especially when some users do not understand how Gmail is actually monetized. Frey reiterates this in today's blog, where she states that "Gmail's primary business model is to sell our paid email service to businesses as part of G Suite" and that the consumer version Gmail still contains ads. , these ads are no longer targeted based on the content of emails.
"The practice of automatic processing has led some to speculate that Google" reads "your emails," writes Frey. "To be absolutely clear: no one at Google reads your Gmail except in very specific cases where you ask us and give your consent, or when we need it for security reasons, such as investigating a bug or abuse."
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