You have been automatically OPTED IN to allow Gmail to access all your private messages & attachments to train AI models.
“Feature”
Gmail users warned to opt out of new feature - what we know
Submitted 3 weeks ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.newsweek.com/gmail-users-warned-opt-out-new-feature-11088257
Comments
SnoringEarthworm@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
FaceDeer@fedia.io 3 weeks ago
I'm not seeing where any of this gives Google permission to train AI using your data. As far as I can see it's all about using AI to manage your data, which is a completely different thing. The word "training" appears to originate in Dave Jones' tweet, not in any of the Google pages being quoted. Is there any confirmation that this is actually happening, and not just a social media panic?
MDCCCLV@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
The only option is smart features, on or off. That requires Google to read the email to categorize them and do a lot of basic stuff. It doesn’t let you narrowly have more privacy on specific features. It’s all or nothing, and if you get a lot of emails then it’s hard to turn it off if you already use categories. Google always does all or nothing because they know people need some of it, same with location. It has to be precise location tracking to use things, you can’t just do rough location.
FaceDeer@fedia.io 3 weeks ago
Yes, but the point is that granting Google permission to manage your data by AI is a very different thing from training the AI on your data. You can do all the things you describe without also having the AI train on the data, indeed it's a hard bit of extra work to train the AI on the data as well.
If the setting isn't specifically saying that it's to let them train AI on your data then I'm inclined to believe that's not what it's for. They're very different processes, both technically and legally. I think there's just some click-baiting going on here with the scary "they're training on your data!" Accusation, it seems to be baseless.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I would op out just in case. I remember using Adobe Acrobat at work and noticed they read every single PDF and generate a few comments about it even when you never asked them to. Meaning they‘re scanning through potentially confidential data. I have no doubts Google will do the same sooner or later.
meejle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Not that I’ve seen, no.
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Understand that basically ANYTHING that “uses AI” is using you for training data.
At its simplest, it is the old fashioned A/B testing where you are used as part of a reinforcement/labeling pipeline. Sometimes it gets considerably more bullshit as your very queries and what would make you make them are used to “give you a better experience” and so forth.
And if you read any of the EULAs (for the stuff that google opted users into…) you’ll see verbiage along those lines.
Of course, the reality is that google is going to train off our data regardless. But that is why it is a good idea to decouple your life from google as much as possible. It takes a long ass time but… no better time than today.
FaceDeer@fedia.io 3 weeks ago
Understand that basically ANYTHING that "uses AI" is using you for training data.
No, that's not necessarily the case. A lot of people don't understand how AI training and AI inference work, they are two completely separate processes. Doing one does not entail doing the other, in fact a lot of research is being done right now trying to make it possible to do both because it would be really handy to be able to do them together and it can't really be done like that yet.
And if you read any of the EULAs
Go ahead and do so, they will have separate sections specifically about the use of data for training. Data privacy is regulated by a lot of laws, even in the United States, and corporate users are extremely picky about that sort of stuff.
If the checkbox you're checking in the settings isn't explicitly saying "this is to give permission to use your data for training" then it probably isn't doing that. There might be a separate one somewhere, it might just be a blanket thing covered in the EULA, but "tricking" the user like that wouldn't make any sense. It doesn't save them any legal hassle to do it like that.
m3t00@piefed.world 2 weeks ago
i probably agreed to 'smart' something, long ago for spellcheck and others. they've expanded those options a lot. i no longer need google spellcheck. firefox since the chrome went downhill
Scotty_Trees@lemmy.world [bot] 2 weeks ago
Wait, wait. You want me to suspend reality and believe that Google isn’t doing anything super shady at all here just because they said they totally aren’t? bro, bro…BRUH!!
FaceDeer@fedia.io 2 weeks ago
If you believe that Google's just going to brazenly lie about what they're doing, what's the point of changing the settings at all then?
In fact, Google is subject to various laws and they're subject to concerns by big corporate customers, both of which could result in big trouble if they end up flagrantly and wilfully misusing data that's supposed to be private. So yes, I would tend to believe that if the feature doesn't say the data is being used for training I tend to believe that. It at least behooves those who claim otherwise to come up with actual evidence of their claims.
Xenny@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I just opted out of Gmail
Toto@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Did I miss the part where they link how to opt out?
cb900f_bodhi@lemmynsfw.com 3 weeks ago
Be aware that disabling this also disables categories in your email. It really sucks that they tied those together. But I need to get away from gmail anyway…
artyom@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Good news, I already had that disabled
madjo@feddit.nl 3 weeks ago
That site is cancer on mobile. Can anyone TLDR this article for me?
Scolding7300@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
malwarebytes.com/…/gmail-is-reading-your-emails-a…
Has the steps and is relatively short
madjo@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
It would’ve been nice if malwarebytes had actually fact checked those steps to turn off smart features for the app on mobile. Because as they are right now, it only works on the desktop version of gmail.com despite what they claim in the steps themselves.
Here’s how to turn it off on iOS:
- Open the gmail app
- Tap on the hamburger menu (top left) and scroll all the way down and tap on "Settings"
- Go to “Data privacy” option in the settings menu (they omitted this step on Malwarebytes)
- Turn off “Smart features”
Kissaki@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Google extended their Smart features with AI. It can be disabled in the settings, personally if you haven’t already.
I visited Gmail earlier today, and it gave me onboarding with information and the choice of enabling or not. I’m in the EU, dunno if that makes a difference.
ApeNo1@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
On the web UI they sneakily slide in the Gemini icon exactly where the settings icon is after about 2 seconds of loading the page which caught me out for the first account I was updating. Really annoying.
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I logged into my GMail account for the first time in years due to this (I normally just use it as an IMAP server.) The “smart features” were already turned off.
It would certainly be nice if we could have sources of information about these kinds of privacy issues that didn’t lie their asses off constantly to create hysteria, but I guess that’s too much to ask for.
CovfefeKills@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It was already on for me I had to disable it. I appreciate the warning.
Minimac@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I deleted Gmail I won’t go there ever again
fizzle@quokk.au 3 weeks ago
I’m honestly kinda surprised that Google is apparently not in fact doing this already and (according to the comments here) continues to not do so.
Prove_your_argument@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
They don’t give a shit about what the law or terms say. They’ll just do whatever and if caught pay pennies on the dollar in fines.
We’ve seen them do this and win time and time again with the google library project and other actions. All the AI companies are training on any and all data they have access to, laws be damned. It’s the MO for any new venture capital / tech project with unlimited profits if someone gets there first.
aurelar@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
It would be par for the course if they just ignored the settings changes when it comes to training their AI on your data, and you’re just turning off your access to the AI features instead.
MadhuGururajan@programming.dev 3 weeks ago
good thing my gmail is full of spammy bullshit.
HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
I for one won’t opt out because the only thing I get is spam and work shit. Go ahead train the AI off spam. The vast majority of emails are spam.
Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah my gmail is mostly for spam. I dont get any real emails to it.
LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Does anyone have a good in depth guide on how to de-google? My ultimate goal is to not use Google at all and use Graphene OS on my Pixel
Scolding7300@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR_ghQEN2SgB5ZpiIIzl…
TheHatedOne on YT has some good resources
You can also find degoogle lists with alternatives for each app, e.g. here: git.tycrek.com/archive/degoogle
My advice to you is to take one step at a time, explore at your own pace. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, but IMO each step is beneficial on its own. E.g. instead of moving to Proton.me in one night (or any other email provider), first start by forwarding the emails and see if youre5ok with the product
Squizzy@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Sucks that they focus solely on google produced phones though.
LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Right? I hate how there’s like no options for phone OS
halfsak@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
There’s no guide since everyone’s use case is different, and 100% is only obtainable if you avoid all tech. GrapheneOS or buy an iPhone are the best options. I went the grapheneos route, but I still use google play services as I found its the safest way to still get apps for now, and the disconnect from google is still much more than using stock android. I moved email to proton, maps I use OsmAnd.
LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Oh nice. Can you still install banking/credit card apps with Graphene? I’ve heard it can be a pain in the ass to get around
Kissaki@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
I mean… Just don’t use Google services!?
What kind of guide or in depth are you looking for? It’s a broad field. Google covers a lot.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
Imma leave it.
All I get is fucking spam. Let them train on that shit and make Gemini even shittier than it already is.
bytesonbike@discuss.online 2 weeks ago
I left it last year for tutamail.
Its not fancy. But why the hell do I want fancy email?
Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
I went yahoo for ‘that mail’.
by ‘that mail’, nothing I use professionally, but need for entertainment, picky store accounts and food.
Steam, for instance thinks my domain email address is a temp email and won’t let me use it, they don’t think the same of yahoo.
ryan_@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So what you’re saying is that all of Epsteins emails are going to be used to train Gemini? Interesting……
kazerniel@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I already disabled all that “smart” crap years ago.
JigglySackles@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Glad I never invested into gmail as an email platform. I have gmail only as part of my google accounts.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
That‘s the only way to truly get rid of their shenanigans. I started degoogling a while ago. I learned that a faulty spam recognition system at Youtube can ban all your accounts (they know your google alts even when you never linked them) instantly for a comment you posted in a livestream, thinking it‘s spam. That includes your mail accounts and google pay. Just like that. Imagine that, you lose access to your mails, the google app store and your preferred paying method without a warning because you posted the same laughing emote 3 chatters posted before you. It is very dangerous to be too dependent on a single platform so I moved my mail somewhere else. I pretty much only use Youtube regularly now in terms of Google products.
JigglySackles@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah the only things I have a google account for are YouTube and the play store. And the play store is getting less use now that I have moved to Graphene. So nothing core to my life thankfully. Now if I can get my MS utilization down to that I will be feeling pretty good.
shifty@leminal.space 3 weeks ago
Instructions on how to disable
aurelar@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Thanks for making it easy, friend. It takes a lot of clicking to turn this stuff off lol.
HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Not to be a downer, but I’m confident Google scans every email with AI regardless.
People should still opt out, but we know Gmail itself is entirely compromised.
Repelle@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Seems like you can’t disable from the web? I’ve never used a Gmail app, always used via imap. Fucking hate having to download an app to turn this off. Not my primary email address, but it is my secondary. Should change that…
Imaginary_Stand4909@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
On browser view you can’t, but I switched to desktop view and it came up. The settings page on browser is fucking embarrassing.