Google attorneys are asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit seeking the ban of automated scanning of Gmail messages for the purpose of serving up relevant ads to it users.
The class action complaint, a multi-district litigation, says Google’s scanning of e-mail messages is illegal because it is being done without the sender’s or the recipient’s consent. The lawsuit also accuses Google of breaching the Federal Wiretap Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act because it reads e-mails not only to filter out spam, but for the express purpose of targeted advertising.
Google lawyers, however, say the lawsuit is an “effort to criminalize ordinary business practices that have been part of Google’s free Gmail service since it was introduced nearly a decade ago.”
“While Plaintiffs go to great lengths to portray Google in a sinister light, the complaint actually confirms that the automated processes at issue are Google’s ordinary business practices implemented as part of providing the free Gmail service to the public,” Google lawyers say in a court filing. “This is fatal to Plaintiffs’ claims.”
Google says all users of its service, including the plaintiffs, consent to targeted advertising and the use of automatic spam filters as laid out in Gmail’s privacy policy when they sign up for the free service.
Under the ‘How we use information we collect’ heading in its privacy policy, Google says it uses “the information we collect from all of our services to provide, maintain, protect and improve them, to develop new ones, and to protect Google and our users. We also use this information to offer you tailored content – like giving you more relevant search results and ads.”
The company’s lawyers also pointed out that Gmail is a free e-mail service, which means Google has to make its money off of advertising as opposed to services that charge users a fee.
“Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, people who use Web-based e-mail today cannot be surprised if their e-mails are processed by the recipient’s [e-mail provider] in the course of delivery,” reads an earlier court filing.
Google is also using Smith v. Maryland, a 1979 Supreme Court decision that upheld the collection of electronic communications without a warrant, to back up its dismissal request.
Google has been lambasted by privacy advocates for its stance.
Consumer Watchdog, the most vocal advocate group, is urging anyone who cares about their privacy to stop using Gmail.
“Google has finally admitted they don’t respect privacy,” says Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director John M. Simpson in a press release. “People should take them at their word; if you care about your e-mail correspondents’ privacy don’t use Gmail.”
The class action complaint, a multi-district litigation, says Google’s scanning of e-mail messages is illegal because it is being done without the sender’s or the recipient’s consent. The lawsuit also accuses Google of breaching the Federal Wiretap Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act because it reads e-mails not only to filter out spam, but for the express purpose of targeted advertising.
Google lawyers, however, say the lawsuit is an “effort to criminalize ordinary business practices that have been part of Google’s free Gmail service since it was introduced nearly a decade ago.”
“While Plaintiffs go to great lengths to portray Google in a sinister light, the complaint actually confirms that the automated processes at issue are Google’s ordinary business practices implemented as part of providing the free Gmail service to the public,” Google lawyers say in a court filing. “This is fatal to Plaintiffs’ claims.”
Google says all users of its service, including the plaintiffs, consent to targeted advertising and the use of automatic spam filters as laid out in Gmail’s privacy policy when they sign up for the free service.
Under the ‘How we use information we collect’ heading in its privacy policy, Google says it uses “the information we collect from all of our services to provide, maintain, protect and improve them, to develop new ones, and to protect Google and our users. We also use this information to offer you tailored content – like giving you more relevant search results and ads.”
The company’s lawyers also pointed out that Gmail is a free e-mail service, which means Google has to make its money off of advertising as opposed to services that charge users a fee.
“Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, people who use Web-based e-mail today cannot be surprised if their e-mails are processed by the recipient’s [e-mail provider] in the course of delivery,” reads an earlier court filing.
Google is also using Smith v. Maryland, a 1979 Supreme Court decision that upheld the collection of electronic communications without a warrant, to back up its dismissal request.
Google has been lambasted by privacy advocates for its stance.
Consumer Watchdog, the most vocal advocate group, is urging anyone who cares about their privacy to stop using Gmail.
“Google has finally admitted they don’t respect privacy,” says Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director John M. Simpson in a press release. “People should take them at their word; if you care about your e-mail correspondents’ privacy don’t use Gmail.”
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