In case you’ve been asleep for the last couple of weeks, there is small firestorm raging over Google’s introduction of it’s e-mail service, GMail.

Some links of note outlining the firestorm are via Dan Gillmor, news.com (see related stories there, as well) and CNN.

The question (I’m addressing here) is: Is this a valid firestorm or a tempest in a tea pot?

What Google is offering with GMail is intrinsically the same as the e-mail services offered by other large Internet players, such as Excite.com, Yahoo.com and Hotmail.com. However, since Google is a late-comer to the free e-mail party, it has to differentiate itself.

Some of the differentiations are what is what is raising the ruckus – in one case, a California (of course) legislator is attempting to block the official launch of GMail (now in Beta):

Hmm…sounds serious…

Is it?

There is always the other side of the coin (obverse vs. reverse); let’s look at some of the issues GMail (may) introduce and draw some conclusions. I’m from Illinois – the Land of Lincoln – so let’s use the obverse (head) and reverse (tails) sides of a penny to set the Issue|Issue Deconstructed:

Heads: The service Google is offering is – essentially – the same as other site’s offerings: Free e-mail, X Meg storage, contact list, browser-based blah blah….

Tails:Yeah, everyone pretty much agrees that the basic concept does not significantly differ from others; it’s the other stuff. But that’s not the point of…this point.

Heads: GMail will scan your e-mail and place paid ads that correspond to the content of your message. (This is the one that gets everyone’s undies in a bunch)

Tails:This is the nasty part for most folks, and it’s not even touching the ad-clutter (making $$ off my messages??) nonsense.

To a degree, this is a valid issue. It comes down to privacy, but does this argument hold up?

Example: I have a wife and a mistress (example, dammit!!); I use GMail for the Mistress. When I’m getting a (hot and heavy) message from the Mistress, there are ads for “Is Your Spouse Cheating On You?” software, sex toy shops or whatever. Disquieting, to say the least, I would guess.

But is Google reading your e-mail? Sure, because I got an ad for the hotel I told the mistress I was going to take her to…

OK. Define “read” – yes, Google read your e-mail; so does anti-virus software (offered by other similar providers, such as Yahoo and Excite). In the latter case, plain-text RegEx matching toasts an entry based on keywords (supplied by user); in the former it toats an entry or displays it with keyword-based ads.

OK. The one (virus) you don’t see; the other (ads) you see. Both are based on ASCII-text keyword algorithms.

Heads: Google’s current privacy terms for GMail sound fairly draconian – they may or may not delete stuff and so on. Sounds fairly invasive, to put it nicely. (I’m not going to link, as I expect the terms to change dramatically in the short term)

Tails:I think Google is catching flack for its honesty. Honest. I have test accounts on Yahoo, Excite and Hotmail and – while I should – I have never read the goddam terms. Yes, I should. My guess is that these three (and others) don’t explicitly mention what happens to that “myMistress” folder when you delete it. Is it really gone? Can the FBI, John Ashcroft, my mistress’ husband get it recovered? Does “delete” mean “gone forever”? (Duh – of course not. Google just admits this.)

OK, here is my bottom lines on all of this fuss:

• I think Google vastly underestimated the issue of privacy and – more importantly – the scrutity they get for any move they make.
• GMail is free – at least as currently planned. Don’t like Google’s terms? Don’t use GMail. That part is very simple.
• OK, your mistress has set up a perceived dangerous GMail account. Your incoming e-mail (to her) is scanned and ads displayed on the strength of your dirty talk. That’s not the issue: The issue is is the message somehow stored? Somehow accessible by humans, not just software scripts?

The last part is huge, and has two parts:

• Is the info stored?
• If stored, can this info be stored with associations to [me/you/mistress/Bin-Laden…]?

That’s the crux of the issue: This is “my” e-mail, is there the possibility that someone else (i.e. Google) can get their hands on “my” e-mail?

And the bigger – perhaps biggest question: Does this “someone else” have any plans to draw conclusions about me by reading my e-mail?

Good questions…