Google's Gmail controversy is everything people hate about Silicon Valley
When news broke this week that Google was letting Gmail app developers scan and even read your email, we heard what's become Silicon Valley's usual excuse: This is what you signed up for.
Don't like how Facebook shares your data with third-party developers? Too bad, it's right there in the privacy policy. How about how Twitter tracks your activity across websites? The company spelled that out in its data policy. (What? You didn't bother reading it?) And maybe you were upset when you learned last year that Unroll.Me was selling information taken from your email inbox. The company's CEO found that "heartbreaking," but that's how businesses make money from a free service.
Privacy advocates have been pushing back against the industry's way of doing business for years. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said in an email that companies including Google and Facebook need to take responsibility for how software developers leverage your data.
