Google: Email Users Can't Legitimately Expect Privacy When Emailing Someone On Gmail (UPDATED)

Google doesn't believe that people can reasonably expect their emails to stay private when emailing a Gmail user, even if they don't use Gmail.

At least, that's what the Internet giant articulated in a brief that was filed last month in federal court and recently surfaced by Consumer Watchdog. The document was written in response to a class-action lawsuit accusing Google of violating wiretap law when it scans emails to serve up targeted ads.

Plantiffs accuse Google of violating the emailers' privacy by mining their personal messages for information that it uses to inform which targeted ads it displays. The suit calls for Google to fully disclose exactly what information it's taking from emails, and to pay damages for these alleged violations of privacy.

The company argued in its motion to dismiss the lawsuit that "all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing."
Google asserts that, in principle, if you entrust your personal messages to a third party, you can't expect that the third party won't touch any of that information:

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....... the complete article is available at the above link.

ab456 

... Google doesn't believe that people can reasonably expect their emails to stay private when emailing a Gmail user, even if they don't use Gmail....

Unfortunately most of the email services - especially the non paid ones - are target of surveillance.
Every eMail sent is like a open postcard in the mailbox - which is nearly up to 100% read before
you get it into your hands.
To avoid this there are many so called "secure" methods to not being trapped.

My favourite though is to write a important mail (or postcard) in a spoken only language which is very difficult for
automated translators to get the meaning

GFIs1

Even the so called Secure Mail services have gone down now -

Secure E-Mail Companies Say There?s No Such Thing Anymore - Businessweek

Lavabit, Edward Snowden's Email Service, Abruptly Shuts Down Amid Court Battle

https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/two-providers-of-encrypted-e-mail-shut-down/

Silent Circle Shuts Down Silent Mail, Marking Yet Another Encrypted Email Service To Bite The Dust

This story is misleading.

Google was in fact talking about non-Gmail services.

Yes, Gmail users have an expectation of privacy | The Verge

That said, gmail users do agree to being targeted by ads, which means their servers read the emails for keywords. This is how gmail is free.

Mike