Gmail

While this is an extremely useful board - maybe even one of the most useful out there - the refusal to allow the use of Gmail accounts is truly bizarre and inexplicable.

Hello. Actually, it's not so bizarre or inexplicable. Gmail's terms of service states that they scan emails for advertising purposes. Therefore, Coyote made the decision not to allow gmail to be used for the forums for registrations, etc. Things like this completely go against everything we work so hard for around here, and the other anti-malware sites.

What are you afraid they are going to find? You are not making your reasoning clear beyond the fact that this it is some 'I'm afraid of big brother' argument. How do you know that members that use your site aren't forwarding your emails to their gmail accounts through another account?

You are missing the point. It is not the fact they are are scanning emails ( although that bothers me, do you want someone opening your snail mail?) the fact that they scan it for the potential to use it for advertising is the issue. Most of the issues today are directly related to online companies,that through back door tactics, load this garbage on to systems. The least serious is that they track your online habits to the most serrious where they take over your browser and in the extreme damage your system. If that isnt enough reason, well then soryy but that is the way it is.

You display a lack of understanding of how Google "scans" the email of its gmail users. It looks for key words in an email and keys on them to gear ads to the user. However, it doesn't do this at the level of the individual user. It does the in the aggregate. For instance: 1 billion emails arrive at gmail, 10 million contain the words "computer" and "monitor." Those 10 million gmail users will receive a general ad that may or may not be from a company in their area of the country that sells computer monitors or at least computer equipment. The information - the words scanned "computer" and monitor" and the addresses that were targeted are not saved in a database and are not sent back to any company that advertises with Google. The only thing that is sent to the companies that advertise with Google through Gmail is the aggregate info - so many ads tageted to particular areas of the country. I am one of the very early users of Gmail and I have not been targeted by - through spam - by advertisers - of Gmail's. In fact, the amount of spam I receive has declined markedly since I have started using Gmail. As well, their ability to capture spam is 100% accurate. You didn't address my second point. How do you know that your users aren't forwarding their email to Gmail accounts?

To answer your second point, we *don't* know that. But why would someone do it? We can't stop them from doing so, but we CAN stop people from registering here using gmail. The point is not whether the ads/scanning targets one user, or all users. The point is that it is done at all…which is something we do not condone.

I am glad you are happy with gmail.


However, back to the main point, their software scans for words in an email, supplies ads they have available for the context of those words, adds ads related to those words, being that most emails from here contain spyuware related text, you (the user of gmail) could get ads for rogue anti-spyware programs (anti-spyware programs that actually are infectious in themselves). Because we are against those types of programs, I have elected to not have any gmail accounts used here at these forums, if you personally do not like this protection, then there are other forums where you are most welcome to take your problems to, I won't be upset with your decision at all.

Thank you for coming to us, and I do hope we have helped you in some way or another.



May your day be blessed by those you love and those you love be blessed by
HIM ;-) (Tom Coyote Wilson)
http://TomCoyote.org

This link may be of interest to those who subscribe to google-mail………

http://www.google-watch.org/gmail.html