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Comment by kmlx | Hacker News Reader

>> I wasn't really comfortable with Google reading my mail.

Neither G Suite Gmail nor regular Gmail have been used and/or scanned for ads personalisation since back in 2017: https://blog.google/products/gmail/g-suite-gains-traction-in...

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Even if they stopped using the data for ad personalisation, they're obviously still scanning it. The new auto reply suggestions feature relies on that. While they might not be using that data for anything nefarious at the moment, there's nothing stopping them from changing their mind in the future.

Personally, I just feel more comfortable paying 4 bucks a month to a company that isn't trying to monetize me.

correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't every email service scan emails? be it for spam, security, viruses. they have to scan them. i thought this is standard industry practice.

Typically, that's based on the email metadata such as the sender address, or mime types of the attachments as opposed to the actual content of the email.

I think that's only correct as of like 1995.

Even simple tools like spam assassin read the body, and you can bet that almost any public provider is doing more than spam assassin.

But they do not sell it or analyze it for advertising...

Neither does Google.

So they claim.

So you think Google gives it for free? Thought it is common sense: If you are not paying for it, you are the product.

There are ads on Gmail. They just aren't based on emails.

Not to mention all kinds of actually free services. Think colab.

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