Application developers read thousands of private e-mails

Hundreds of external application developers have access to private emails from Gmail users. Although these searches are automatically researched, thousands of them have apparently been read by employees.

The free email service "Gmail" has more than 1.4 billion users worldwide. In 2017, Google put an end to the automated analysis of emails for promotional purposes. Now it came out: the external application developers for the mail program still had access to the mailbox and also read messages from private users. This is reported by the "Wall Street Journal".

In general, the content of emails is automatically evaluated by search programs, for example, if they contain attachments or specific terms appear

Companies have accessed private messages. Not only were they able to read e-mail addresses and metadata, but also the complete content, according to the report.

Which users are concerned

Gmail users interested in courier services are particularly concerned For example, price comparators or travel planners have connected, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Users had to accept that developers have access to their emails. That they are scanned or searched for automatically by humans is not clearly formulated. Concerned users have not been informed that their emails have been read.

Access to emails is "the norm"

Some app developers have already admitted that emails are being read by users for the development of new features by employees were. Others have called this the normal case. Two companies said their employees read "thousands of messages" from users.

According to Google, app developers are verified before having access to emails. Google employees can also read user emails in special cases. This is the case of security incidents. However, the user must explicitly agree, it says.

Google would have exceeded the current practice of a red line, criticized the "Wall Street Journal". Doubts about the security of Gmail were also expressed.

NB: t-online.de asked Google Germany for an opinion. We will publish it as soon as it is available.