1. Encrypted email only protects the email body. All the metadata - who is emailing who, when, from what servers - as well as the subject line, are in the clear regardless. The metadata is more valuable than the data in many cases.
2. Unless users download all their Gmail messages, leaving none on the server (essentially, like an old POP account), then the decrypted message bodies will be in their Gmail account for Google to read.
Find "Smart Features", uncheck, and press save, which will reload Gmail.
Then find "Google Workspace smart features" and click the "Manage Workspace smart features settings" button and unselect everything.
My guess is that Smart Features will (along with everything else it does) scan your emails to populate "Happening Soon" with package status, and if you then enable "Turn on package tracking", it will also periodically poll the shippers for those packages to keep the status up to date.
My complaint still stands. I want to entirely remove "Happening Soon" without disabling categories. It's not even the "Google reading your emails" creepiness. I just don't want my UI to be cluttered.
Learning to not rely on inbox categories does make it easier for me to finally leave Gmail for a real email provider though, so maybe this will all work out in the end.
I'm Australian, I use Australian idioms, spelling, contractions, et al in emails to regular contacts for 20+ years via gmail (Yet Another Early Gmail Invite User).
Despite having selected UK English (there's no 'Strayla option) gmail via the web still insists on suggesting I morph into a cookie cutter middle north American Engrish typer.
Yes, Engrish .. AmerEngrish is an abomination.
Feck that shite. Hard.
Someone will ask a Google AI service to generate an image some day and your daughter will be used. And that's one of the least worrying outcomes.
> When smart features are on, your data may be used to improve these features.
I long made a "spam/unimportant site verification " account, so that's set.
But as long as you get SSL/DKIM/SPF and the other stuff right, and it's not THAT difficult, then most hosters will let you through. Unless it's German Telecom, because for some reason t-online.de decided to only allow emails from hosters they whitelisted and there's a whole approval process which even requires registering with them with an email that is NOT from your domain and even a fax, but honestly fuck anyone using that domain.
Proton is another one people often suggest. Hey.com sometimes too. No experience with those myself.
There are other options (such as the big guys, iCloud mail or Outlook.com), but aside from self-hosting (which I don't want to spend time maintaining just for my personal mail), I personally haven't seen much outside of those ones that are recommended often.
I know that Google does a lot of bad stuff but we don’t need to make up stuff they just aren’t doing
This doomsday messaging an alarmism is only serves to degrade the whole cause
edit: and before someone say that they also don’t want that then let’s criticize it for what it is (opting users to feature without consent). We don’t need to make stuff up, it really doesn’t help.
When I click "Learn more" in toggling the smart features on/off
It may not do it now, but I really don't like the implications. Especially a tone of "it's not actually bad, it's good!"
Is it too much to ask to be able to not give up data for “improvements” but keep the functionality?
I don't believe "may" is being used to indicate possibility, but rather permission.
That is to say, there's no reason to think it's not being used, given that wording.
Separately, their help docs are gibberish. They must use this phrase 20 times: "content is not used for training generative AI models outside of your domain without your permission." Without telling you if that checkbox is that permission; where that permission is set; or indeed, even if that permission is set. From reading their documentation, I cannot tell if that checkbox in gmail allows using my data outside my organization or not.
"Your data stays in Workspace. We do not use your Workspace data to train or improve the underlying generative AI and large language models that power Gemini, Search, and other systems outside of Workspace without permission."
> I know that Google does a lot of bad stuff but we don’t need to make up stuff they just aren’t doing
No no. a) they ARE doing a lot of bad stuff and b) that shit ain't made up and they ARE exactly doing that. Or do you also think that Github is NOT using priI know that Google does a lot of bad stuff but we don’t need to make up stuff they just aren’t doingvate repos to train Copilot? Do you honestly and truly believe that?
If you do truly believe that I got a bunch of bridges to sell to you.
> The reason behind this is Google’s push to power new Gmail features with its Gemini AI, helping you write emails faster and manage your inbox more efficiently.
"By the way, to unlock the full functionality of all Apps, enable Gemini Apps Activity." with a link to myactivitydotgoogledotcom
ectospheno•2mo ago