Judge Orders Deleted Emails Turned Over 600
Anonymous Coward writes "In a lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission, a subpoena sent to Google orders the turnover of the complete contents of a Gmail account, including deleted e-mail messages. The Judge has granted the subpoena and orders that all e-mail messages, including deleted messages, be divulged. Google's privacy policy says deleted e-mail messages 'may remain in our offline backup systems' in perpetuity. It does not guarantee that backups are ever deleted. So much for the Delete Forever button."
oh! (Score:2, Funny)
oh, really?
Re:Hate to say 'I told you so', but... (Score:3, Funny)
Even if you store mail on your own servers, there is no guarantee that the same mail isn't stored somewhere else, such as say the Sent Messages folder of whoever sent it to you. The only way to maintain privacy is to not discuss private matters through email.
Much like those naked pictures of yourself taken at that frat party in 1983, you must assume that once a piece of information makes its way on to the Internet, it is not going to remain private.
So if you really hate someone with a gmail account (Score:3, Funny)
Re:That's just like... (Score:5, Funny)
With apologies to Douglas Adams (Score:5, Funny)
Google: The gmail documents may remain present in our offline backup system. ... with a torch.
IRS: I eventually had to go down to the cellar...
Google: That's the offline backup system's machine room.
IRS:
Google: Ah, the lights had probably gone.
IRS: So had the stairs.
Google: But you found the tape, didn't you?
IRS: Yes. It was backed up on paper tape stored in the bottom of a locked drawer beneath a PC04/PC05 tape reader with a dot-matrix printed sign on the door saying 'ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS.' Ever thought of going into search technology?
Baleeted! (Score:3, Funny)
That's life in America (Score:1, Funny)
I think invasions of privacy like this are terrible, but I won't scold the US because I understand that they are doing it to protect me and everyone else in my country. I know that it opens up abuse, but *maybe* reading someone's email will save another person's life (or a lot of people). If so, I don't think any rational person would think it was wrong (not in a moral sense, but a practical one) that the government read the e-mails. As a semi-liberterian I know these views are really odd, but I think that it is too easy to get caught up in ideals and forget that one of our government's few essential jobs is to protect us, and that is practically impossible without a few right-killing powers. Plus I like to play the devil's advocate.
To be somewhat on topic, I'll give my opinion: Google should probably work on deleting those e-mails faster, but perhaps, in the grand scheme of things, a saved incriminating e-mail may benefit the world.
Re:Hate to say 'I told you so', but... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hate to say 'I told you so', but... (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, I mean you wouldn't want the following email message to get out into the public
to: MOMfrom: TripMasterMonkey
Subject: Second Post
Mom, I only got second post on the slashdot story about Gmail. Well, at least I got +5 interesting for mentioning 1984. If you need me, I'll be in the basement. A new story is coming out in 5 minutes and I have to do some serious copying and pasting and then mention privacy concerns. See you upstairs later tonight for dinner.
Love, Your son TMM ^_^
The moral (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hate to say 'I told you so', but... (Score:5, Funny)
Finally, a use for spam! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:email longevity & PGP (Score:3, Funny)
I prefer the Cone of Silence [wikipedia.org] to secure my communications.
Re:Hate to say 'I told you so', but... (Score:2, Funny)
Requestor : DOJ
Requestee : Google Inc.
SEND 2003 01 15 0134 UTC - Hey bob how r u ?
RCPT 2003 01 15 0145 UTC - Good but ur gay lol @ u
+
+ Ads by Goooooogle
+
+ Buy gay for cheap!
+ gaystufffakesite.com
+
SEND 2003 01 15 0149 UTC - That's not funny. Hey let's screw the FTC
RCPT 2003 01 15 0203 UTC - Ok let's go.
(...)
Re:Hate to say 'I told you so', but... (Score:3, Funny)
of course, followed by:
"And stop torturing me in this secret eastern european prison, #@##$$%!"
Re:Hate to say 'I told you so', but... (Score:2, Funny)