[bcrosby95]

Unlike most other responders, I generally trust Google not to do this. Everything they say they don't do has been confirmed to me one way or another by people working there that I trust.

They may make money off ads but I don't think they have any real incentive to lie about what they're doing. Because most of their users don't actually care. I would be curious if anyone knows of any scenario where Google has outright lied about what they do and don't do with information, because I've never heard of it.

For me, I moved off gmail for other reasons: my email is too important to randomly lose access to because e.g. their youtube AI thinks I'm spamming a channel on Youtube. I look at all my data in Google as if I might lose access to it forever some day, because someday I might, with zero recourse.

[thebean11]

What exact behavior of Google are we talking about here? I'm pretty sure they do mine emails for their own ad targeting. On the other hand, I'm equally sure they handle the information securely and don't pass it on to anyone else.

[wstrange]

> I'm pretty sure they do mine emails for their own ad targeting.

They do not. See https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6603?hl=en

"We will not scan or read your Gmail messages to show you ads."

[tinus_hn]

Yet, they state

https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en

> Our automated systems analyze your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customized search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection. This analysis occurs as the content is sent, received, and when it is stored.

[tuananh]

> "We will not scan or read your Gmail messages to show you ads."

that reads to me like ""We may do it for other purposes."

[jdminhbg]

They obviously do, as does every mail provider that filters spam, at a bare minimum.

[twoflower9]

Whenever I book a flight google offers to set alarms and gives me don't forget your flight tomorrow notifications. They are obviously reading the email to achieve this.

[SahAssar]

Well, if they didn't you wouldn't be able to search in your inbox, among other things.

[eschutte2]

Interesting, looks like they stopped in 2017.