[nisdec]

Quote: "...they nonetheless impliedly consent to Google’s practices by virtue of the fact that all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing.

Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their communications are processed by the recipient’s ECS provider in the course of delivery.

Indeed,“a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties.” Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 743-44 (1979)..."

I think this is a good summary.

[runarb]

Agree. The sender has no guarantee that the recipient haven't handed over authority to open and read mail to somebody else. It is not necessarily anything wrong with that.

At my office my secretary reads most of my snail mail, and at home I have authorized my girlfriend to do the same. Gmail reads my email. In all cases my reasons are the same; I am having a hard time keeping up with all the mail that comes in and want someone to filter out what is relevant.

[simonw]

To put that quote in to context:

While the non-Gmail Plaintiffs are not bound to Google’s contractual terms, they nonetheless impliedly consent to Google’s practices by virtue of the fact that all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing."

This is talking about non-Gmail users who send email to Gmail users.