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That's Why It's Free
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The cases accusing Google of wiretapping when it scans your Gmail and it serves up ads based on the content are going forward, and it raises some questions as to what constitutes an invasion of privacy. It's not like somebody at Google is reading your email, but their computers are, for the purpose of selling ads. That's how they make the service free. But the lawsuits also include people who are forced to use the service, whether it's because their college requires it or if they just sent an email to a Gmail user. Google is concerned that an adverse verdict would mean criminalization of their ordinary business practices, but they also think that you have no right to assume privacy if you're doing business with somebody using Gmail. That's a stretch. (New York Times)
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