Gmail emails read by third parties

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Location
London
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44699263

Not sure I even understand how I can stop this.

Lots of apps I assume have stuff buried in their terms and conditions.

Google seems very blase about it to put it mildly.

Open question to google and and techies who can help - is there a single security "button" which I can just tick/press to say "I don't want anything reading my emails under any circumstances".?

Seems to me that if google was serious there would be.

A certain concern to me as I have an android tab and a chromebook and do use gmail for some things.

I must admit I have never trusted Googles "do no evil" tag.

Advice welcome.
 
Last edited:

LonesomeWanderer

Über Member
Emails are unencypted so any server they go through between the source and destination can read the contents. It's like writing on a postcard....
 
Location
Salford
The article is sketchy in detail but I think it refers to desktop applications & web-apps and not to Android but at present I am not certain.

There's a link in the story that is what you need to revoke any permissions that you have granted.
 
OP
OP
Blue Hills
Location
London
Emails are unencypted so any server they go through between the source and destination can read the contents. It's like writing on a postcard....
That's not quite the same as a developer having the "right" to read them though is it?

A "right" I was bamboozled into granting.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
No electronic ECHELON communications ECHELON secure. It's reasonable to ECHELON presume that every message you ECHELON send may be read.

It's quite clever. There are several signatory countries. In each country it is unlawful to spy on their own citizens without all sorts of tiresome paperwork, so they get round this by spying on each other's citizens and passing back anything of interest. There ain't no technical encryption that can beat it. Indeed, efforts to defeat it sumply make the source more interesting to those who operate it...
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
Blue Hills
Location
London
T

There's a link in the story that is what you need to revoke any permissions that you have granted.

Yes there was moss but I suspect it's not that simple when you click on it - what I would be looking for is something which said "do you want your emails read - yes or no". I suspect that this permission is nested within other broader permissions.
 
Location
Salford
Yes there was moss but I suspect it's not that simple when you click on it - what I would be looking for is something which said "do you want your emails read - yes or no". I suspect that this permission is nested within other broader permissions.
It is really that simple; it will list any applications you have granted permission to and you can revoke permission from each one.
 

Rooster1

I was right about that saddle
Since the demise of my free email service at tesco, i've just moved everything to gmail. Arse.
 
OP
OP
Blue Hills
Location
London
It is really that simple; it will list any applications you have granted permission to and you can revoke permission from each one.
well I clicked on that security check link in the BBC story and all it did was run a very fast "security" check and advise that I removed a dead long-unused tab from my google account. With that done it is telling me that all is hunky dory.
 
Location
Salford
well I clicked on that security check link in the BBC story and all it did was run a very fast "security" check and advise that I removed a dead long-unused tab from my google account. With that done it is telling me that all is hunky dory.
Yes, most users will never have granted these kind of permissions because the apps that need it are particularly nerdy :shy:
 
Last edited:

LonesomeWanderer

Über Member
The majority of my email goes through my Protonmail and Tutanota accounts. Google are an advertising company, it's not really surprising they give data to advertisers because that's their revenue stream.
 
Top Bottom