Google Stops Mining Student Gmail Accounts To Target Ads
After taking heavy fire in a California court from plaintiffs who contend its Gmail data mining practices within Google Apps for Education are illegal, Google is changing its practices so that it’s not possible to scan those users’ emails for advertising purposes.
Further, “We’ve permanently removed the “enable/disable” toggle for ads in the Apps for Education Administrator console,” wrote Google for Education’s Bram Bout. “This means ads in Apps for Education services are turned off and administrators no longer have the option or ability to turn ads in these services on.”
In the post, Bout also defended Google for Education, noting that the company always had ads in Apps for Education services switched off by default and removed all ads entirely from Google searches for signed-in K-12 users.
He also said that Google employs some 400 security engineers to work on Gmail, ensuring strong security through encrypted HTTPS.
The changes might not save Google from litigation, but if nothing else, it’s a step in the right direction.
Further, “We’ve permanently removed the “enable/disable” toggle for ads in the Apps for Education Administrator console,” wrote Google for Education’s Bram Bout. “This means ads in Apps for Education services are turned off and administrators no longer have the option or ability to turn ads in these services on.”
In the post, Bout also defended Google for Education, noting that the company always had ads in Apps for Education services switched off by default and removed all ads entirely from Google searches for signed-in K-12 users.
He also said that Google employs some 400 security engineers to work on Gmail, ensuring strong security through encrypted HTTPS.
The changes might not save Google from litigation, but if nothing else, it’s a step in the right direction.
