Google Drops an E-Mail Bomb: Free "Gmail" service, with 1 gigabyte of storage

Business Week ^ | April 1, 2004 | Alex Salkever

[billorites]

Everyone knew that Google was gunning for e-mail. A Web-based e-mail offering from the Net's most popular search engine to compete with Yahoo! ( ) and Microsoft's ( ) MSN unit had long been rumored. Still, when Google announced on Mar. 31 that it was testing Gmail, a free e-mail service, eyebrows in cyberspace shot up. According to top Google executives, Gmail would offer users a full gigabyte of storage with the intention of allowing them to keep their e-mail on Google forever. That's 500 times more free storage than MSN offers and 250 times more than Yahoo, Google's chief competitor.

[jimbo123]

Sorry. Not going to let Google read my email and decide what type of ads to send me.

[pt17]

Sorry. Not going to let Google read my email and decide what type of ads to send me

Me neither.

[jimbo123]

But Chris Hoofnagle, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, saw nothing funny about the ads.

``It's an interference into an area where people have enjoyed a great deal of privacy,'' Hoofnagle said. ``It's like a telemarketer listening in to your phone call and then trying to sell you something.''

[coffeebreak]

You send someone a private email about constipation and it includes an ad for Phillips' Milk of Magnesia? I'll stick with Hotmail for now.

[Poundstone]

Ditto. Google can go to h--- as far as I care.

[jimbo123]

How about information about breast cancer and google sends you a porn ad?

[templar]

I wouldn't mind having an e-mail address that is independant of an ISP. Changing an ISP for any reason is a real pain after giving your e-mail address to many important sources that you need to keep updated. I don't mind paying for it, but I want to keep total privacy of my communications and be ad free. Google, MSN, Yahoo aren't going to meet my needs, anyone know of someone that does?

[cebadams]

Who is April and why is gmail wishing her a happy birthday? (See text link at bottom of http://gmail.com -- Welcome to Gmail page).

Or just go here: https://gmail.google.com/gmail/html/april.html

[Skooz]

I have no problem with any of this. I have a almost a dozen email addresses and if I want privacy, I will use my main account, which I give out only to friends and family.

As for the ads, Hotmail is nothing but a stream of annoying online dating service ads.

I'll sign up for a Google email account as soon as it is available. If I don't like it, I just won't use it anymore. At worst, I can just forward all the overflow email for my Hotmail account and use the Google account for storage.

[TADSLOS]

I wonder what all of my e-mail expletives concerning Clinton and the Rats would conjer up in the way of ads? I'd probably get Registered's stuff...;~)

[cebadams]

>> Sorry. Not going to let Google read my email and decide what type of ads to send me.

Google isn't going to be sending you any mail. The proposed ads will appear on your mail screen much link the ads appear on the google search results page today. Except where yahoo and msn displacy large pictures, google intends to use text instead.

[dennisw]

I'd love to sign up but they aren't taking any now.

[jimbo123]

This issue isn't how Google will be delivering their ads. The issue is that Google will be reading people emails. Just like a telemarketer listening in to private phone calls.

[tubebender]

This article sounds like a Puff Piece from Google's PR department. I must say though that the free Eudora I use has a pop-up ad but I never noticed if it's content specific...

[cebadams]

Email systems already read your emails. That's one of the major methods of detecting SPAM (words, word order, and frequency). Yahoo already does this and moves suspected SPAM into a bulk mail folder for you; i.e., it reads your mail before you do.

Secondly, email is always public unless you encript it. It is delivered in clear text and travels from mail system to mail system along the way to delivery. It can be read by anyone along the way. It is not private.

[Agnes Heep]

Sorry. Not going to let Google read my email and decide what type of ads to send me.

Ditto here. Local storage is cheap enough.

[AntiGuv]

If this isn't an April Fool's hoax that refuses to die (which is what I still think) then I'll be first in line just for the 1 Gig.

[smith288]

All free email systems read your email. Encrypt it if you have something to hide otherwise they (Hotmail, yahoo, google) can see every single word. Boo.

[smith288]

The issue is that Google will be reading people emails.

The technology (yes, technology, not a person) will scan for words that match keywords in their ad delivery system after it gets done scanning every word for spam. Just like when you do a search, the ads on the right of googles screen will show relevent advertisements.