Gmail: expectation of privacy? NONE.

[Camy]

It is official.

If you happen to send an email to one of the 400 million people who use Google's Gmail service, you shouldn't have any expectation of privacy, according to a court briefing obtained by the Consumer Watchdog website.

In a motion filed last month by Google to have a class action complaint dismissed, Google's lawyers reference a 1979 ruling, holding that people who turn over information to third parties shouldn't expect that information to remain private.

Read the article

Maybe it's time to start investigating PGP (pretty good privacy). http://www.gnupg.org

[The Pecman]

I thought the first rule of Google was "don't be evil"! So much for that...

[Nick Deverill]

Perhaps I need a gmail signature?

Governments overthrown, evil deeds done and general all round naughtiness plotted.

While I wouldn't use any non-encrypted email if the matter were truly private there is an expectation the mail is only read by the addressee.

[Cole Parker]

It was a response in a lawsuit. I'm not sure you can say that statement defines their workaday policy.

C