Just Vetting Third Party Apps, Not Reading Your Gmail: Google

Google confirms that third-parties can read your Gmail.

Clicking an unknown Gmail link can grant a hacker access to your data. Image used for representational purpose.

(Photo: iStock)

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Google is letting third-party app developers read data of Gmail users who sign up for email-based apps and services. In fact, they can access addresses, time stamps and entire messages.

Google continues to let hundreds of outside software developers scan the inboxes of millions of Gmail users who signed up for email-based services offering shopping price comparisons, automated travel-itinerary planners or other tools

<i>The Wall Street Journal</i> report

“We do not process email content to serve ads, and we are not compensated by developers for API access. Gmail’s primary business model is to sell our paid email service to organizations as a part of G Suite,” said Suzanne Frey, director, Security, Trust and Privacy, Google Cloud.

She added, “No one at Google reads your Gmail, except in very specific cases where you ask us to and give consent, or where we need to for security purposes, such as investigating a bug or abuse.”

“The practice of automatic processing has caused some to speculate mistakenly that Google ‘reads’ your emails,” Frey said in a statement.

However, In 2017, Google had said its computers will soon stop reading the emails of its Gmail users to personalise their ads.

We make it possible for applications from other developers to integrate with Gmail — like email clients, trip planners and customer relationship management (CRM) systems so that you have options around how you access and use your email

Suzanne Frey

Google has also said that if you don’t want your email to be read by a third-party, then users can simply revoke the third party apps from accessing data.

Google also suggested users to make use of the Security Check-Up tool it offers to see if you might have an app that is a little risky.

The work of privacy and security is never done, and we’re always looking for ways to better protect our users, said Google

with inputs from IANS and Android Authority)