Gmail users cannot expect privacy while sending email: Google

SANTA MONICA, USA: In a stunning admission contained in a brief filed recently in federal court, lawyers for Google said people should not expect privacy when they send messages to a Gmail account.

Consumer Watchdog said that people who care about their email correspondents' privacy should not use the Internet giant's service.

Google's brief said: "Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient's assistant opens the letter, people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their emails are processed by the recipient's in the course of delivery. Indeed, 'a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties."

Click here to read Google's motion to dismiss here.

"Google has finally admitted they don't respect privacy," said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project director. "People should take them at their word; if you care about your email correspondents' privacy don't use Gmail."

Google made the statement that people can't expect privacy when sending a message to a Gmail address in a response to a class action complaint filed in multi-district litigation.

The suit says Google violates federal and state wiretap laws when the company reads emails to determine what ads to serve based on the message's content. The class action complaint was filed under seal because it details many of Google's business practices about the way it handles email.

Click here to read highly redacted version of the complaint.

"Google's brief uses a wrong-headed analogy; sending an email is like giving a letter to the Post Office," said Simpson. "I expect the Post Office to deliver the letter based on the address written on the envelope. I don't expect the mail carrier to open my letter and read it. Similarly when I send an email, I expect it to be delivered to the intended recipient with a Gmail account based on the email address; why would I expect its content will be intercepted by Google and read?"

A hearing in the case, In re Google Inc. Gmail Litigation, Case No. 5:13-md-02430-LHK, will be held before Judge Lucy H. Koh in U.S. District Court in San Jose, CA. at 1:30 p.m., Sept. 5.