[IP] more on Clean Image Is So Key To Google's Success, Why Take Gmail Risk?
[ reminds me of a note I got yesterday, requesting that an EFF press
release that I sent to the IP list be taken off the archive because:
"I am trying to clean up my google image in reference to my name."
I enjoyed 1984 (the book) but not the modern version of re-writing history.
I declined to remove it.
Dave
]
Date: Fri, 07 May 2004 08:48:58 -0400
From: Daniel Weitzner <djweitzner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IP] Clean Image Is So Key To Google's Success,
Why Take Gmail Risk?
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>, mossberg@xxxxxxx
While I agree with Walt that gmail raises serious privacy questions, I see
Google's gmail project (still in Beta) as doing exactly what their stock
offering 'Owner's Manual' promises, they're are going to keep innovating
for the long term without bowing to pressure to keep shareholders happy on
a moment-by-moment basis. Walt is correct that if they don't keep *users*
happy in the long run, they'll lose. So there are very real questions about
the invasiveness of gmail, most particularly Steve Bellovin's point about
the intrusion into the email of people who just send to a gmail address but
never buy into the gmail privacy policy. As Google has grown and offered
more and more services (toolbar, for example). they continue to explore the
boundary of trust versus intrusiveness. Gmail clearly pushes that one step
further. This may be a step too far but the only way Google is going to
find that out is from the experience of the Beta. The real question is
having been bold enough to launch this service, will they be similarly bold
enough to pull it or modify it substantially if user feedback and
reflection indicates that this is the right thing to do?
Danny
--
Daniel J. Weitzner
+1.617.253.8036 (MIT)
World Wide Web Consortium +1.202.364.4750 (DC)
Technology & Society Domain Leader <djweitzner@xxxxxx>
http://www.w3.org/People/Weitzner.html
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