Google says nobody reads your emails, except …

Google would like you to know that no one reads your emails on Gmail without your permission. While this may be true, things are not so simple.

After a report by Wall Street Journal (published on Monday) described how third-party developers read your emails on Gmail, Google responded on Tuesday with a blog post describing the steps taken by the company. Company to ensure your security and your privacy within the service.

The message, signed by Suzanne Frey, Director of Security, Trust and Privacy at Google Cloud, acknowledges that Google allows third-party developers to access your Gmail messages, but only if you have authorized them. a strict review process.

"Before a non-Google published app can access your Gmail messages, it goes through a multi-step review process that includes automatic and manual developer reviews, privacy policy reviews, and reviews. Home page of the app. Legitimate application, and in-app testing to make sure the app works as it says, "says Frey.

In contrast, the WSJ report states that Google "does little to control these developers," which in some cases forces their employees to read user emails. According to the report, employees of a company called Return Path read about 8,000 emails from users two years ago to help train its software.

The practice of sharing user data with third-party companies has become a common practice after it was revealed that Facebook allowed many third-party applications to harvest massive amounts of user data to their customers. own purposes.

Google has been a little more cautious than Facebook when it comes to protecting your privacy. For example, the company has stopped using the content of user emails on Gmail to personalize its ads in 2017.

But if you are not careful about granting permissions in Gmail to third-party apps, your emails get bad hands. To check which third-party apps you've allowed to access your Gmail account, go to myaccount.google.com and click "Apps with Account Access."

In the post, Frey also indicates that "nobody at Google" is reading your Gmail. "However, there are exceptions to this rule," according to the company, this includes "very specific cases where you ask us and give your consent, or where we owe for safety reasons, such as investigating a bug or abuse. .