Consumer Watchdog has revealed a motion filed last month by Google’s legal counsel, Cooley, where the company was defending itself in the face of a class action over how the company operates a free email service. As part of its efforts to have the case dismissed, the company says that Gmail users should know that any electronic correspondence is subject to surveillance for all sorts of reasons including adverts.

Normal practice

The motion says '…a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties,’ and states that Gmail users should not be surprised to have their messages processed by the recipient’s email provider and comparing it with a business letter being opened by an assistant and not the addressee, RT USA reports. Google claims the practice is normal for businesses, arguing that litigation is not viable due to the federal wiretap laws in place that allow third-party email providers to scan messages.

Public warning

John M. Simpson, privacy project director at California-based Consumer Watchdog has warned the public in a statement against using Gmail: ‘Google has finally admitted they don’t respect privacy,’ he said, ‘people should take them at their word.’