ThatAdamGuy - 8:06 pm on Apr 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

Oh my, this Senator is *SO* clueless! At risk of being an elitist geek, I wish that people had to get Internet Drivers Licenses before they could use the Net, much less pass laws about it.

Here's a bang-your-head-in-frustration passage:

She said one concern she has about Gmail is that people sharing an e-mail account, such as a parent and child or two spouses, might infer information from the ads. "What if my daughter gets onto the account and wonders why mom is starting to get e-mail on this issue?" she asked. "If we're talking about medical issues, there's lots of sensitive information out there."

Inaccuracies? False assumptions? Let thee count the ways!

1) Why would a parent and a child share an email account?!
2) Google EXPRESSLY forbids children (anyone under the age of 13) to use Gmail.
3) Since users are not profiled and no targeting information is maintained from email to email, even if a Mom shared an account with her daughter, her daughter's "Hey, how was school, Suzy?!" email will show different ads than her Mom's health-related mail.
4) The implication that Gmail will actually send separate emails with ads is completely false.

"I believe you are embarking on a disaster of enormous proportions, for yourself, and for all of your customers," State Sen. Liz Figueroa said in a letter to the Mountain View, Calif., company.

I can think of many horrible things in this world that are disasters of enormous proportions... catastrophic floods, fires, assasinations, etc. But Gmail? Once again, hyperbole wins over rational discourse.

[edited by: ThatAdamGuy at 8:14 pm (utc) on April 13, 2004]