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google...

bigness

i just sent an email to someone regarding a meeting with a structural engineer.

reloaded gmail, and the top column that i only use to have funny quotes (and spam recepies, for some strange reason) displayed on, was telling me about a website for sourcing engineers in the uk.

weren't they not supposed to scan email contents?

scary, i'm not using that thing anymore.

 
May 7, 06 5:55 pm

i never heard that they renounced scanning email messages.

May 7, 06 6:27 pm  · 
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bigness

well, the tern structural engineer was not in the title (it was a simple "Re:") yet it happened...i can't think of any other explanation.

May 7, 06 6:33 pm  · 
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Janosh

1. Is Google reading my email?
No. Google scans the text of Gmail messages in order to filter spam and detect viruses, just as all major webmail services do. Google also uses this scanning technology to deliver targeted text ads and other related information. This is completely automated and involves no humans.

So yeah... the robots are reading your mail.

May 7, 06 6:43 pm  · 
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bigness

i'm sure it involves no humans, i guess they would have to employ half of china to do that, but wat the hell...it's not nice!

May 7, 06 6:55 pm  · 
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Janosh

Seriously. But we can be sure that no Chinese will be reading our mail, since Google has reached an agreement with the Chinese government to help restrict web searches in that country. Do no evil my ass.

May 7, 06 7:15 pm  · 
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bigness

ehehe, yeah, i forgot about that.
i think we should all boycott gmail.
yahoo gives a giga too. is it any less evil?

May 7, 06 7:18 pm  · 
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sameolddoctor

first of all they give you a free account with a gig of space. Its the best interface of any webmail prog and has the most functionailty. Does one expect to get this for free? surely not. Last i checked, there is no thing like a free lunch.
ive discovered though that if you make password protected pdfs then gmail cannot scan thru it...

May 7, 06 7:21 pm  · 
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bigness

well, it's actually full of bugs as far as the interface with safari goes, the thing is still in beta and there is that issue with having conversations you have deleted coming up from the trash whenever an email with the same subject comes up. and the ads make them more than enough money already.

it's beyond the point. they could give me a giga for free and swamp me with spam, i wouldn't care. but to scan the messages is wrong. and i am not going to pdf all my emails now am i?

May 7, 06 7:26 pm  · 
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bigness

aaaaaand, both yahoo and hotmail have a similar interface now

May 7, 06 7:28 pm  · 
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garpike

Las I checked (5 seconds ago) Yahoo does not have a similar interface. I am not aware of any other email that sorts and displays messages as conversation, as Gmail does.

I don't go near my hotmail account. That was destroyed long ago with spam. My Yahoo account gets its fair share of spam. My Gmail gets about 1 a day.

I love Gmail. Scan away.

May 7, 06 8:04 pm  · 
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sameolddoctor

garpike is right hotmail DOES not have a similar interface. I logged onto live.com (the new microsoft initiative that shows hotmail), but then it shows hotmail with a similar interface after you log in. how dumb.

I have my hotmail acct just for nostalgia, gets a ton of spam everyday. I have not got A SINGLE spam in my gmail since the time i opened it. I still have some issues with the ultra-small reply and forward tabs, and the fact that one has to specially change the subject every time...but its growing on me....

May 7, 06 8:11 pm  · 
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Cassiel

Google does no evil in China. Yahoo does. Google has handled the issue quite well I would say, avaoided to put themselves in a position where they would have to do evil things, like handing out the names of dissidents, like Yahoo did.

As for gmail scanning, it is sooo worth it, they can scan my mail everyday, as long as only robots do it and they dont save it for their own or Bush's purposes. And every once in a while I get an ad that I'm actually interested in. That never happens on TV. Heh, I even got my apartmenthere in Shanghai through google! (kinda..)

May 8, 06 12:51 pm  · 
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Is censoring the search results for the term "Tiananmen" not evil? How about "Tibet" or "Taiwan"? ... and that's just the "t"s ...

And how long do you think it will be before someone asks Google's robot to print out some of the things it's been reading? Someone with a warrant and a badge and a gun?

May 10, 06 3:12 am  · 
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Cassiel

Well, for one thing both the censored version an the uncensored one are avalable, google.com and goolge.cn. The difference is where the servers are. In Chinathey are free from the 'Great Firewall", but then thy cannot show anything or it will be shut down.

There was a nice article in NYT (I think) a while ago about the issue, but now I couldn't find it.

And for the data release google has made sure that it cannot be put in a situation like that. For example by not hosting blogs and forums in China, which is what yahoo did.

Mr Bush though is the one to fear when it comes to that, he is the one that's gonna send the guys with warrants and guns to get those printouts.

May 11, 06 7:03 am  · 
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job job

all this time and no-one has mentioned that the NSA has approval to scan internet routers..... they've been doing it for years

our 'freedom' vs china/india's sanctions are degrees in difference

and I love the anthropomorphized image of robots reading email

don't hurt us, no. 5!

May 11, 06 7:46 am  · 
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job job

and some guys in blue windbreakers and caps are now going through my garden

I'm taking signum, psyArch, and jeffe down with me. bigness too

May 11, 06 7:56 am  · 
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bigness

sorry guys, i have to go and eat my external hard drive to get rid of all the evidence. maybe with some mayo it will taste better.

May 11, 06 8:05 am  · 
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job job

and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, why not
grandmaster flash and the furious 5, krs 1, eric b and rakim

May 11, 06 8:07 am  · 
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job job

mowing down 'nectors like I'm mowing the lawn...

May 11, 06 8:09 am  · 
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siggers

I searched for your email on google and found it straight away, this is great!

"Dear Structural Engineer,
It's a fascinating design, isn't it? I checked with Rick Bogus, a landscape designer at the Plantations, who has always been fond of the hypar (short for "hyperbolic paraboloid shell") and thinks it should be utilized as a place for visitors to stop and get information about the arboretum. It's held up amazingly well, with absolutely no care, since it was built as a thesis project of one of Professor Don Greenburg's students (Zimmerman). Rick couldn't find a date, but if I recall correctly, it's been around since at least the 1970s. p.s. blobs are better than boxes aren't they!"

http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:M78e8S7GgNYJ:ezra.cornell.edu/posting.php%3Ftimestamp%3D889678800+%22dear+structural+engineer%22&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=1

I may have embelished your email.

May 11, 06 8:49 am  · 
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job job

i think bigness will also need to eat this other entry from his external drive:

http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/civil_eng/enews/E-News-2005-08-11.htm

Dear Dr. xxxxx,

This is xxxxxx. It's been a while. I graduated xxxxxx and was one of your students. Maybe not the best one, but I tell you one thing, I definitely learned a lot from you.

You were so right about a couple of things . . . you were right to make us learn Shear/Moment Diagrams. It couldn't work better for blob analysis!

May 11, 06 9:57 am  · 
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Nevermore

rick bogus ? ?

May 11, 06 10:07 am  · 
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Nevermore

the chap would have a hard time having a firm after his own name.

"Bogus associates "wouldnt attract too many clients.

May 11, 06 10:08 am  · 
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bigness

you guys have waaaaaaaaay to much time on your hand. how about you stop prancing about and help me detail my prefabricated pavilions?

May 11, 06 10:57 am  · 
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Try Google
May 11, 06 11:22 am  · 
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siggers

ha!

HA!

this is a serious case of the pot calling the kettle black...and you know it!

so, back to prancing, la la la laaaa

May 11, 06 1:04 pm  · 
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Nevermore

ok guys

try this

type "failure" in google web search bar and click "im feeling lucky" below.

check out the result.

May 12, 06 7:09 am  · 
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job job

someone at google is going to get audited, and/or have multiple jury duties

May 12, 06 7:36 am  · 
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