Lawmaker moves to block Google's Gmail

Found on Houston Chronicle on Monday, 12 April 2004
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A California state senator today said she was drafting legislation to block Google Inc.'s free e-mail service "Gmail" because it would place advertising in personal messages after searching them for key words.

"We think it's an absolute invasion of privacy. It's like having a massive billboard in the middle of your home," Sen. Liz Figueroa, a Democrat from Fremont, California, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

In late March, the world's No. 1 Web search company announced plans to launch Gmail -- a service that would offer users 1 gigabyte of free storage, more than 100 times the storage offered by other free services from Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

But in return for the extra storage, users would agree to let Google's technology scan their incoming e-mail, then deliver targeted ads based on key words in the messages. For instance, a user receiving a message about a friend's flu symptoms might also receive ads for cold and flu remedies.

Google tells users all details about the email service. They clearly point out that they will scan emails, add advertisments and store emails even after being deleted. I do not like this idea, so I will not sign up. But why should there be a law making Gmail illegal? It's like saying "our citziens are not able to read the terms of service and decide what they want".