E-Mail Concern

[Guest KimberlyF]

I have a google E-mail account. I came out to two women this weekend and they seem way to excited about it. I talk one the phone, they talk to each other and we send a ton of emails. This was the very first time I've had any of these types of conversations in that account.

On the top line of my email list is ads. Never noticed that before but the ads are based on what's in the emails. I had a Transsexual voice ad and a becoming a woman ad.

OK I did click on the second one and it's a site by P&G to sell tampons and pads to girls who are about to start/or have started puberty. OK so I spent a little time there reading about breast development-they contradicted themselves and on one page said 2-3 years and 3-4 on another. I did not have time to make my very own virtual boyfriend. There's always next time.

Obviously I knew they could see the inside of my e-mail, but this is kinda in your face and admitting that at the vey least programs are going in and doing it. I've always been very protective with what I've posted about myself on the net but there's always this feeling that emails are safe. They're really not. I do have a hushmail

accout which is supposed to be very secure and since it's outside the US I wonder if the justice Dept which seems to get more and more power no matter who's in the WH would still be able to monitor those. Big Brother scares me.

Kar

[JJ]

Hi Kar

Do they have a privacy setting that you can change? That might help. Just don't allow anything. Their terms of use should have all the info about what they are doing. Kind of disguised but there.

The good news is that no live person ever sees youe e-mails. I'm sure tat they have a massive program that is set to respond with certain ads to certain words. Most big sites have tem now and if Google didn't invent them they are certainly one of the most prolific users.

Another thing that might help is that most browsers have a way to set them to anonymous nrowsing and if you do want to go in on a site it can't identify you theough your ISP number

Huggs

JJ

[Guest Donna Jean]

Unfortunately advertising is geared toward what you browse...

For instance...if you are looking at sites with trucks on them, pretty soon you'll start getting pop-ups for Ford/Chevy trucks....

It works the same with the mail (although much scarrier...!)

I really do want my mail to be personal, though...

But, it workks like JJ said....

HUGGS!

Donna Jean

[Guest Sabine1]

Kar, I have a google gmail account I use sometimes. Do you mean the "webclips" above the inbox messages, or something inside the messages? You can turn off the webclips ad and links by going to settingsand looking for webclips. I never noticed a connection between my emails and the webclips though, but my gmail not that active. I don't have ads in my messages.

I am looking into the clips though. I'm not happy about that kind of scanning either.

Sabine

I have a google E-mail account. I came out to two women this weekend and they seem way to excited about it. I talk one the phone, they talk to each other and we send a ton of emails. This was the very first time I've had any of these types of conversations in that account.

On the top line of my email list is ads. Never noticed that before but the ads are based on what's in the emails. I had a Transsexual voice ad and a becoming a woman ad.

OK I did click on the second one and it's a site by P&G to sell tampons and pads to girls who are about to start/or have started puberty. OK so I spent a little time there reading about breast development-they contradicted themselves and on one page said 2-3 years and 3-4 on another. I did not have time to make my very own virtual boyfriend. There's always next time.

Obviously I knew they could see the inside of my e-mail, but this is kinda in your face and admitting that at the vey least programs are going in and doing it. I've always been very protective with what I've posted about myself on the net but there's always this feeling that emails are safe. They're really not. I do have a hushmail

accout which is supposed to be very secure and since it's outside the US I wonder if the justice Dept which seems to get more and more power no matter who's in the WH would still be able to monitor those. Big Brother scares me.

Kar

[Guest KimberlyF]

Coming out to my friends wasn't easy and it was very emotional before and after. And then to see that a few days later it was like well google knows. Very impersonal and violating. I knew it was the nature of the beast but it just bothered me. Then like an idiot I clicked on the ad to make the whole system work. Curse you unquenchable joy of online shopping.

And I hate thinking about crap like our Gov asking for lists of all the TSs but then I read about all the cases all over the country of how TSs are treated by authorities after they have been attacked and I have a hard time trusting people from the gov to be looking out for my best interests and I hate thinking this. I always tell my oldest that police officers are your friend and sometimes they're just not.

Kar

[Guest Elizabeth K]

EMail? Well, it is usually word searched by Robot programs - and you get spammed - but the usual practice is there are Bots that gain access to your internet browsing files, so your interest in the sexual peculiarities of the Three-toed Sloth" is never noted by a live human. Those invites for cute cartoon representations of your face photo? Things for free - like free wallpapert etc? They make their money selling the access to your browsing history - 'cause you forgot to read the fine print on privacy when you accepted that 'free' feature.

A good way to get out from under this is to have 'throw-away' Email accounts. Have a real Email ONLY for trusted sites and friends. Run your brousing and your 'fun' site email address through a junk Email address that can be abandoned when it gets too full of ads and spam. The Anti-spam, Anti-spybot and Anti-pop-up protection? Those eventually get hacked and compromised.

AND

NEVER give out your real Email - if you have a new friend use the 'throw-away ' address at first - and watch for new spam and such (sometimes your friend has no idea he or she is infected with a spy-bot. LATER move them when they look like they are free of contamination - Also when typing an address use something like "JohnJones at goodvibes dot com" Instead of the real "[email protected]." It isn't perfect but it usually protects you.

Read the rules for policy at Laura's for additional information.

That doesn't even START to explain how vulnerable you are on FACEBOOK - yikes!

Hope this helps

lizzy

[Guest sarah f]

Karen, I have recieved the same kind of junk mail and know how much of a pain it is to delete every day. I am sorry that you also have to go through this but we can't stop shopping online can we.

[Guest Liam]

I haven't noticed a correlation between the emails I get and the ads I see, but I have noticed a definite correlation between the google searches I do/the sites I visit and the ads I see. Once I looked up an old computer game I used to play, and for weeks I was seeing ads for that computer game. But if you delete all your cookies or make it so that your computer doesn't store cookies, you should stop seeing that sort of ad customization.

[Guest i is Sam :-)]

Google were very upfront about this when it first launched gmail. saying that a computer system would scan your emails for keywords and match ads up to it. No human ever sees it, and afaik they don't keep logs of it. and for each ad you were served it could be one of many keywords that triggered it. So I didn't and still don't have a problem with it, at least google are honest.

Of course I surf with adblock plus so I don't even see the ads, and I turned off the webclips under options.

[Guest ChloëC]

Ok, I know there is 'safety in numbers', and with the massive amounts of online information being passed back and forth, that unless there are tens of thousands of dedicated people who review all this, it is just impossible.

But, it is not impossible to create a computer program that can go from browsing your email looking for key words, to collecting any and all information. And just watch as you keep getting updated 'privacy' notices. First, a 'we promise' we won't look for your name or any identifying url numbers, to 'we promise we won't divulge any information we obtain', to 'we promise we won't divulge any information we obtain as along as it meets Homeland Security guidelines', to 'we promise we will only divulge any information we obtain so long as it meets the general guidelines of any government group that provides us with court orders, either secret or open, or Executive Orders that probably violate the Constitution, or any other request that we deem in the best interests of staying in business while accepting government intrusion.'

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if most intrusion programs were programmed with the ability to gather any information at all, and currently have sub-routines that can easily be enabled to do that, if there was a reason.

It's a slippery slope and every time there is even the faintest rumor of a threat towards the USA, people are more than willing to give up more and more personal freedoms to protect against any perceived enemy threat. And one of the easiest personal freedoms that people seem most willing to give up, is the freedom to be different.

During my years as an application programmer, I prided myself on being able to give the customer whatever! programming logic they desired, and I mean whatever. Some customers were afraid to ask for things they thought would be near impossible. I could usually figure out a way to make it happen because I knew it all could be done, and by far and away, I am not the most brilliant programmer to come down the pike.

Chloë

[Guest Gasky]

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned it above by Google is extremely open about its privacy policies. They save EVERY SINGLE email ever sent, record logs, Ip addresses, etc, etc. That's why I only use my gmail for non-personal things, and I'll never use Chrome [that keeps an eye on ya too.]

[Flint]

For instance...if you are looking at sites with trucks on them, pretty soon you'll start getting pop-ups for Ford/Chevy trucks....

Donna Jean

Yes! I keep getting adverts now for cars! And LOADS of them. I don't mind too much! But it's like a slap in the face when i realise I can't afford it!

[JJ]

Okay but why am I getting ads for Vaigra??

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Okay but why am I getting ads for Vaigra??

You aura is translating through the screen now!

HA!

Lizzy

[Petra Jane]

Okay but why am I getting ads for Vaigra??

Either you're being spammed, or someone with your email address has no anti-virus/firewall/anti-spyware protection and their computer is possibly been "zombied" (I believe the phrase is) and is merrily sending spam emails out to everyone in their address book!

[JJ]

Either you're being spammed, or someone with your email address has no anti-virus/firewall/anti-spyware protection and their computer is possibly been "zombied" (I believe the phrase is) and is merrily sending spam emails out to everyone in their address book!

Thanks Petra Jane. I'm probably being spammed. It's kind of sad, funny and ironic all at the same time in the circumstances.

When I announced to myself I was trans in the middle of the night I went to my computer and googled to try to find out what I meant. I came across some sites that may have read my IP address and the adds are coming from them. Not actually trans sites-you know the ones. I've cleaned the computer since and usually am set to anonymous browsing but they still read IPs sometimes.

JJ