83
submitted 6 days ago by yogthos@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] eldavi@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 days ago

i had to learn this the hard way when i got suckered in by their "dont be evil" motto.

[-] howmuchlonger@lemmy.org 3 points 6 days ago

They became obviously evil in 2004 when they introduced Gmail, and flat out said in their ToC that they are reading your email and selling your data.

[-] eldavi@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 days ago

yeah, but in my defense: i was a liberal at the time and we were/are notorious for not reading beyond the headline. lol

[-] howmuchlonger@lemmy.org 3 points 6 days ago

No one reads the article. Especially the hive

[-] bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip 2 points 6 days ago

Iirc Google doesn't sell data in the traditional sense, they package profiles for advertisers and their own ad network, but they don't outright sell individual data. I could be wrong though.

[-] howmuchlonger@lemmy.org 2 points 6 days ago

They read every word of your email. Not a human, but a computer. Putting together a profile that is far larger than “advertising.” It’s literally every single thing you do everything you buy and get a receipt for, every service that you are Using. Every single thing that comes through your Gmail

[-] bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago

I understand all that, but point is that they don't necessarily sell you profile or data points to a third party, they use all of that for their own targeted advertising

[-] howmuchlonger@lemmy.org 1 points 5 days ago

There would be a lot of money in selling your data to third parties, right?

[-] bobs_monkey@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago

I'm sure there is, but Google's core business is advertising. It would almost be counterintuitive for them to sell that data when they make more money utilizing it in their own systems.

[-] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 days ago

We all got suckered. The good thing is that older data becomes less valuable. It's never too late for others to start either.

this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
83 points (100.0% liked)

Privacy

47835 readers
58 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS