Free Google Email with 1 Gig of storage

[Riley]

With Yahoo and MSN abandoning the Google search, it looks like they are fighting back.

http://gmail.google.com

Gmail is not available yet, but is coming soon, with a wopping 1 gig of storage space.

The catch is that they will search your emails and add in ads that correspond to the email topic.  Kind of sketchy, but it might be better than dealing with the ads from Yahoo and especially Hotmail that seem to be getting more and more obstrusive by the day.[/url]

[Murgos]

Check the date.

[Riley]

I don't think its a joke ;)

If it is, everyone is biting hook, line and sinker

[Rodent]

I don't think its a joke ;)

One gig of free storage? Yepp, it's a joke.

[Riley]

Dunno, but if it is for real, this sure was a damn clever marketing trick to spread the buzz.  

It is real or is it a hoax?  Lots of articles are popping up about it

This one from Reuters


Course, the search engine watch and the Lunar job opportunities definitely are hoaxes :)

[Anonymous]

Google has said gmail is not a joke.  The GCHEESE, sadly, is a joke.

I think I might finally dump hotmail.  1 gig of storage?  w00t!

[WayAbvPar]

This is looking more and more legit as the day drags on. Jesus, 1 gig is a lot of pr0n mail!

[Alluvian]

They may place restrictions on the max attachment size or max message size.  Who knows.

[TripleDES]

Some years ago there were download services that fetched big files and then sent them to you in small chunks that could be merged together using "copy file1+...+filen blah.zip". They were pretty famous thanks to FreeDrive and all, and the "warez scene" (...) that used these "online harddisks" for distribution. I wonder if these will show up again with 1gig free storage. I wouldn't wonder if some people would start misusing Gmail inboxes as storage folders for warez (again).

[shiznitz]

Article on Drudge alleges Google will "read" all email via machine and attach relevant ads based on the text in the email. Google doesn't deny it. Is this new? I don't use free email now so I don't know.

[Alluvian]

So now any email to your friend Dick will include nice suggestions on how he can increase his penis size.

[Riley]

Article on Drudge alleges Google will "read" all email via machine and attach relevant ads based on the text in the email. Google doesn't deny it. Is this new? I don't use free email now so I don't know.

I think I basically put that in the original message :)  Thats pretty much the whole basis of their service.  They do claim they are fairly non-intrusive, we'll see.

It would be mildly amusing though to get an advertisement email and have several competing ads attached to it by Google.  Well, that would be amusing once.

[Presarc]

This is no April Fools joke, I actually saw this on the news several days ago.  This is legit, but "searching your e-mail?"  What exactly is that supposed to mean?

Jon

[pants]

This is no April Fools joke, I actually saw this on the news several days ago.  This is legit, but "searching your e-mail?"  What exactly is that supposed to mean?

Jon

Without having done any research at all, I imagine it will run along the lines of

Hi Jon, heard it was your birthday this weekend!  Hope to see you down the golf course then you old dog!

Will mean

birthday_ads+++
golf_ads++
pet_ads++ (because automated things always screw up).

[Kairos]

Yeah, basically. It's going to be using Google's AdWords system to generate  text ads based on the contents of your e-mail, much like it does with search terms today. It's not some guy looking through your e-mail, if that's what you're worried about.

[Kenrick]

Article.

[XplOrOrOr]

Yeah, basically. It's going to be using Google's AdWords system to generate  text ads based on the contents of your e-mail, much like it does with search terms today. It's not some guy looking through your e-mail, if that's what you're worried about.

 It doesn't matter if it is a machine or "some guy" .... your email is being officially looked through and read.
 With Yahoo and Hotmail, and others, your email cannot be officially looked through. It can be unofficially looked through. (FBI, CIA, HSA, IRS approaches Yahoo and says they suspect you of "terrorist activities" and are invoking Patriot Act I, and Patriot Act II) they can then search your email. But at least they have to jump through some hoops, which means there will be some form of a trail. And you can pick up on it.

 With users of the 1Gig Google email, they will be giving permission on purpose for ALL their email to be searched.

 AND

 ALL email they recieve! So if their friend Joe American has a Yahoo email account, because he does not want his email getting searched.... but Joe American sends an email to Gulible American who uses 1Gig Google email.... Joe American's emailing gets searched.

 IMHO anyone who signs up for 1Gig google is further signing away their rights. Sad.

 But....... only reason I can see for using 1Gig Google is as the above 2posters stated - for purposes NOT related to email. To store P0rn, warz, programs, etc... And NOT use one's real name, info, etc.... LOL!
 I'd consider signing up for it, but not using it for email. And I will make sure not to send emails to anyone with a @google.com email address.

[Sarno]

Also don't use any spam filters they read your mail too...

Come to think of it Anti-Virii programs look at your email too. Best not use those either.

[Disco Stu]

 With Yahoo and Hotmail, and others, your email cannot be officially looked through. It can be unofficially looked through. (FBI, CIA, HSA, IRS approaches Yahoo and says they suspect you of "terrorist activities" and are invoking Patriot Act I, and Patriot Act II) they can then search your email. But at least they have to jump through some hoops, which means there will be some form of a trail. And you can pick up on it.

Do you ever post anything that isn't stupid? Do you have any idea how a spam filter from Yahoo or Hotmail works? It reads your fucking email for key words; the only difference here is google is going to put ads in baised on those key words. If you don't understand that the govenment could just as easily scan every email sent from/to a yahoo or hotmail account as they could from/to a gmail account then you truly are an idoit.

[Kairos]

It doesn't matter if it is a machine or "some guy" .... your email is being officially looked through and read.

Loathe as I am to repeat the people who have already replied to you, no, it fucking isn't. The best you can argue is that it's being looked through, and if that gets your panties in such a bunch you should be just as worried about any free e-mail provider. While we're at it, let's be paranoid about the non-free ones, too. Did you know that any e-mail you send is saved on the server and can be read by your administrator? E-mail is not safe! Let's stick to the telephone. Surely no one can eavesdrop on your innermost secrets that way. Oh, and that wily Google! The way it parses your search terms to send you ads based on what you typed! Hold me, I'm frightened! Let's all stick to Yahoo, surely they cannot read our search terms! Et cetera.

[cevik]

 IMHO anyone who signs up for 1Gig google is further signing away their rights. Sad.

Google mail just burned down my house and ate my cat.  It's also threatening to steal my wife if I don't wash it's car next sunday.  Fucker.

[HeartBurn]

Do you have any idea how a spam filter from Yahoo or Hotmail works? It reads your fucking email

LOL That says it all.

[Alluvian]

You are afraid the government and law enforcement is looking through your google mail.  Then you state that it is anonymous so you will use it for illegal activities?  Um... Make up your mind.  Either there is a vast conspiracy interested in everything you do or there is not.

Trust me, neither the government nor anyone else on this earth gives a shit about anything you do or say.  If your emails are as fucking stupid as your 14 posts here they won't be able to get through even two or three without giving up and lying to their supervisors.

[Soukyan]

In my experience, some people concerned about privacy are usually using said channels to perform illegal activities. Some.

[HaemishM]

Some stupid fucking shit

Do you ever post anything that isn't stupid?

No, no he doesn't.

See, here's where the Google thing shouldn't matter. They search for words, and they index those words, and the words that appear often that match ads companies have bought keywords for set off a process that tells Google to send you an ad based on those keywords. What's missing from this that makes it NOT an invasion of privacy is that the keyword searches know fuck all about the CONTEXT of those messages. The context of those words in the message is what would invade your privacy. Just knowing that you typed the word "cock" six times in a email doesn't mean they know you are talking about rooster fighting; they'd probably just send you some Viagra and Extenze ads.

Not to mention what others have said in this thread. Your email, unless you encrypt it, is not "secure" or "private." Any idiot can read it unlawfully, and any law enforcement agency with enough probable cause and a sympathetic judge's ear can get a court order to read it.

In short, Xx0)9aerwhateverthefuckyournameis, you are a tool.

[Chiastic]

Frankly, this is the most gimmicky pile of shit I've seen come down the pipe in a long, long time.

One gig of storage?  Huh?

The average size of an email (including spam) is between 1 and 7k.  Assuming that every email you get is 7k then, Gmail gives you the ability to store about 142,857 emails.  To fill up that capacity in a year, you'd have to recieve about 391 emails per day and not delete anything.  So the question is, who the hell does this apply to?

The only (potentially) legitimate practical application for that much storage that I can see is to use your Gmail account as a personal fserve, a usage that I can't believe Google intends to allow for reasons of managing bandwidth consumption and limiting its liability for the activity of its users.

So, basically, totally pointless.

And call me a conspiracy nut, but the email scanning thing bugs the hell out of me.  Compare it to a simple spam filter all you want, but it looks like a totally different animal to yours truly.

Firstly, I control what my spam filters actually filter and I can turn them off if I like.  Secondly, there isn't a filter in existence that I'm aware of that scans anything more than an email's subject line.  There's a big difference between that and a full text scan.  And let's not forget that the purpose of a filter is primarily to prevent unsolicited advertising from ever reaching the user, regardless of the pitch; not particularly useful data since the user is totally blind to what was just blocked in most cases.

If you're wondering why this bugs me, then you're forgetting the holy grail of advertising; the collection of as much information about customers as possible.  In other words, I can pretty much guarantee that Google's software won't just be scanning your email for those keywords, throwing up an appropriate banner ad, and then discarding the information.  You can bet that all of them will be stored in your file, ranked according to frequency, etc.  Also, it's only a matter of time before the scans are expanded to catch names, addresses, phone numbers, physical locations, favorite websites and anything else about yourself that you happen to mention in an email that could maybe be used to sell you something.  Not cool.

And all of this, of course, applies equally to the people who send you email, even if it's from outside Google's system.  Even more not-cool.

No sir, don't like it at all.

[Morfiend]

The average size of an email (including spam) is between 1 and 7k.  Assuming that every email you get is 7k then, Gmail gives you the ability to store about 142,857 emails.  To fill up that capacity in a year, you'd have to recieve about 391 emails per day and not delete anything.  So the question is, who the hell does this apply to?

Well, given your numbers, I bet if I turned off my Spam filter, I could fill that gig up pretty damn fucking fast. Considering I get over 100 spams a day on my home address.

But, thats if I want to keep my Spam. Yay.

[HaemishM]

Actually, Chiastic, many ISP's, especially the larger ones who get spammed like crazy daily, already have spam filters in place that you have no control over whatsoever as a user. And I can't be sure, but I believe they do scan more than just a subject line. Again, they are only scanning for keywords and not context, which is why they aren't foolproof.

As for ranking and frequency and all that other marketing goodness, of course they are. It's targeted advertising. If you only get 1 email in a year with the word cock in it, you won't get the penis cream ad; it would be a waste of an ad.

Your privacy is not what you think it is.

[Mr_PeaCH]

Or give Grandma a digicam and watch the inbox fill up in mere days.

[Chiastic]

Ok Haemish, yah, ISPs have their own filters, most of which actually scan for mail volume from an email's point-of-origin instead of the subject line.  I don't really consider that the same thing as a spam filter.  It's more your ISP trying to protect its infrastructure from a mass-mailing induced meltdown.  They also often attempt to block known spammers (not that it makes any difference, IPs aren't exactly hard to spoof) and pitch it as spectacular customer service.  Bleh.

Scanning the bodies of emails as a filtering function is not only ineffectual, but counter-productive, which is why nobody does it.  You of all people, being as prone to epileptic fits of profanity as you are, should realize that blocking emails with the word "fuck" in the subject line (anti-porn filter) is all well and good, but blocking the email if the word is in the body would be a disaster.

Also, the reason that filters don't scan for context (which in its most basic form is almost identical to keyword scanning) is because no computer program on Earth is currently capable of identifying "Viagra," Vi@gr@," "V i a g r a," "Via __gra," sic ad nauseum as the same word.  Most people, however, do not communicate with one-another in code, so keyword-style context scanning for data collection purposes is perfectly viable in the personal email arena.

And Google will do it, sure as shit.  Now, I'm far from having a seizure over this, mind you.  I'll just watch my mouth if I ever find myself replying to an @Google.com addy.  But really, do you want some corporate database to duly record that you just love edible panties and what your favorite flavor is? And then start sending you shit?  You're gonna have all kinds of fun explaining that one to the wife or the g/f.

I just think that the content of email is far too spontaneously (and typically thoughtlessly) generated to become a permanent part of a person's personal paper trail. Say that five times fast.

[HaemishM]

But really, do you want some corporate database to duly record that you just love edible panties and what your favorite flavor is? And then start sending you shit?

You'd be surprised just how much of the things you do online can be tracked, cataloged, and pie charted to send you shittons of offers, spam and other things. There are already corporate databases scanning every single scrap of information they can gather on us, just to try to sell us shit. The tools are in falling into place.

That grocery store discount card you signed up for? Yep, it knows when you buy condoms and what brands. Those web site forms you sign up for, or feedback forms you fill out? Yep, you are in a database.

I see the dangers of corporate database abuse, but that doesn't mean I'm against corporate databases. What I want is control of that information, as well as a means to use that information MYSELF to search for things I'll be interested in. As it is right now, that information can be gathered and grow seed, and the only control I had over it was the handing out of it in the first place, through signing up for something or sales. In the future, when I get my flying car, I'd like to use my information as a currency.

And I prefer strawberry.

[cevik]

Chiastic, from what I understand almost everyone is switching to Bayesian filters now, which do indeed scan the contents of the email and not just the subject line.

If we just filtered based on subject line, then spammers would have a super easy work around for any filter ever:  Never send an email with a subject.

[WayAbvPar]

epileptic fits of profanity

This visual just made my day.

[Odysseus]

Even though I enjoy a thread full of asstalkery as much as the next guy, here's Google's info on gmail:

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/about.html

It doesn't sound too bad. The ads look like the sidebar links on Google searches. Inobtrusive, and probably generated on the fly when they serve up your email page.

[Chiastic]

Chiastic, from what I understand almost everyone is switching to Bayesian filters now, which do indeed scan the contents of the email and not just the subject line.

If we just filtered based on subject line, then spammers would have a super easy work around for any filter ever:  Never send an email with a subject.

Well, actually, no they wouldn't.  They've already tried the no-subject trick.  Just filter blank subject lines.  Seems easy enough.

As for Bayesian filters, don't buy the hype.  All but the most advanced/well-configured are as easy to defeat as anything else.  In many cases, just inserting a non-spam-associated word or phrase like "punctuated equilibrium" into an ad for penis enlargement cream is more than enough to wreck the filter.  They're just the latest short-lived fad in the anti-spam wars.

Anyhow, Bayesian filters (and all filters, really) are irrelevant to a discussion about information-gathering full-text scans.  Even though filters can function according to similar principles, the devil is in the application.  So without further ado...

Haemish,

I'm not at all surprised at the extent a person's activity can already be tracked.  You can't even get a haircut these days without supplying a phone number.  And hell, I work at a bank's corporate offices.  I see it every day.  Which is partially why I'm so leery of Google.

The problem that I have with the Google thing is that to me, it comes dangerously close to spying on people and the fact that it's being done by a computer program is the only reason they can get away with it.  I'm sure you would flip out if the Postal Service (or even private shipping companies like UPS and Fed Ex) was allowed to read your mail.  How is Google's position fundamentally any different?