Gmail Will No Longer Scan Your Emails to Target Advertisements

Google is going to stop scanning your email in order to direct advertisements at you.  Which sounds like a good thing, but they’re only doing it in email.  Which is kind of concerning, don’t you think?  For example, are my emails from my boyfriend being scanned?  And then what is Google doing with that information?  What if the information is salacious?  I’m not saying that my emails are, but it does raise a big question about privacy.  That being said, Google is still going to track your search history and target you that way.  But they have decided to stop doing it if you have a Gmail account.

The major concern I have with this is that they shouldn’t have been doing it at all.   I don’t really care about the fact that they track my search history and use it to target ads at me.  That’s fine.  I don’t have an expectation of privacy when I’m using the search engine.  I shouldn’t say that.  My expectation of privacy is low.  On the other hand, I do feel that there is an expectation of privacy within email.  Maybe I’m being naive, but what else can we expect? I’m also curious to know what kind of information they are grabbing onto and then using?  Outside of my Amazon purchases, I haven’t seen much in terms of advertisements.

I’m still not sure that I’ve ever seen this in practice.  I might also be oblivious.  But I wonder if it actually is tracking me?  I did just open a website and found an advertisement for a clothing store that I shopped at today.  I had gone online previously to look up some of their new arrivals.  Which I do this from time to time.  So I’m not surprised to see an advertisement as it’s somehow linked to my search and browser history.  That I understand for the most part.

What I don’t understand is why I’m getting advertisements for Apple Watch bands on my screen as well. Yes, I’d like a new watch band, and maybe I even sent a message or two about it, but I haven’t searched for a new band yet.  (I will after this because it’s in my head now)  I guess I’m really just wondering how much of my data is being tracked? And should we be concerned?  If I’m being honest, I don’t really care about these kinds of things.  Yes, I should care, but the paranoia about it hasn’t set in quite yet.

I also wonder what information Gmail is excluding in their scans?  For example, is Gmail backed by certain companies where they specify certain search terms.  Or is it only linked to consumer products?  I recently purchased a house, so I had a lot of correspondence between my real estate agent and myself.  I didn’t notice any advertisements showing me houses to buy, or even items for my home . So I wonder if there is a specific set of search criteria that Google uses to target their advertisements?  Whatever the answer, you can rest assured that they are no longer going to be scanning your Gmail account.