California votes for Google mail safeguards

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Annie I. Anton" <aianton () mindspring com>
Date: May 28, 2004 1:46:19 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: For IP? California votes for Google mail safeguards


The Register » Internet and Law » Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs »

 Original URL: 
http://www.theregister.com/2004/05/28/gmail_legislation_passed/

California votes for Google mail safeguards
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco (andrew.orlowski () theregister co uk)
 Published Friday 28th May 2004 03:17 GMT

 The Californian state Senate has voted to introduce safeguards on 
email services that, like Google's Gmail, scan incoming and outgoing 
email for specific terms in order to display advertisements. Google 
views its new email service as an extension of its advertising 
business.

 Despite intensive lobbying, and the full weight of right-wing think 
tanks and Internet marketing hypesters, keen to exploit the commercial 
potential of personal data troves, the Senate voted 24-8 to prevent the 
misuse of the data.


 Few will object to the terms in Sen. Liz Figueroa's bill, which 
explicitly allows instant messaging and email providers to scan the 
text of messages for advertising and to remove spam and malicious code. 
However, data-hoarders won't be able to transfer it to third-parties or 
allow their staff to examine emails without consent. Most importantly, 
the service provider is forbidden from retaining "personally 
identifiable information or user characteristics obtained, derived, or 
inferred" from the scanning process.

 Privacy campaigners have responded to the defense of "don't like it - 
don't' use it" by pointing to the pervasive nature of the service. 
Because content scanning is applied to incoming as well as outgoing 
emails, Internet users have the choice of being scanned or ignoring 
friends. "We're not going to have any choice but to send mail to people 
at Gmail just to function in the e-mail world," says campaigner Daniel 
Brandt.

 "Quite simply, there is no hue and cry among e-mailers to have ads put 
into their e-mails, just as there is little or no interest among phone 
users to hear, at the beginning of a call, 'This conversation is 
brought to you by?'" the Sen. Figueroa had written, introducing the 
legislation. "In addition, there is a general abhorrence for the idea 
that the privacy and confidentiality we expect in virtually every other 
communicative medium is something that is, or should be, optional."

The wording may yet be amended. The bill now moves to the State 
Assembly, where the Democrats have a majority. ®

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