Cloud Computing: Google Faces Pressure for Scanning Student Gmail to Mine for Ads
May 18, 2014
Grazed from eWeek. Author: Todd R. Weiss.
SafeGov.org continues to ask Google questions about its past scanning of Gmail messages that used data mining to serve up ads to Google Apps for Education users. Opponents of Google’s recent practice of scanning Gmail messages to help target advertisements to Gmail users continue to pressure the search giant on the issue.
The latest salvo comes from Jeff Gould, the president of industry group SafeGov.org, who launched an angry attack on Google in a May 15 blog post after Google described its Gmail-scanning activities in a recent blog post…
"In a surprise announcement on April 30, 2014, Google announced on its company blog that it would no longer ‘collect or use student data in Apps for Education services for advertising purposes,’" Gould wrote in his post. "Google also noted that it would make similar changes to its Google Apps for Government products. This announcement suggests that Google has been scanning, storing and monetizing student, business and government emails for years, which raises concerns about Google’s past privacy practices and their future policies."…
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