For Discussion: Google email service

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http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,62917,00.html

Story location: 
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,62917,00.html

04:45 PM Apr. 01, 2004 PT

Google's plan to offer free Web-based e-mail has raised worries among 
privacy advocates that the service could make it easier for law 
enforcement to conduct surveillance of its users.

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Dear all, 

I think it is worthwhile discussing. It has not only a privacy 
aspect. Storing very private content on webmail service 
looks like a funny idea to paranoid people like me. On the 
other hand it is the only way to have all info available anywhere 
at anytime on any device. This renews the question put forward 
by Giles Hogben some time ago, that one might want to know 
about the saveguards they offer. P3P can't express that for the 
moment AFAIK. Should it be able to express those things?

Some points about the service:

As a sender I can send embarrassing stuff to somebody 
who will receive even more embarrassing advertisement.

Imagine that all your spam is augmented with more spam ;)

Because of the search (and they will probably constitute a 
pseudonymous or anonymous profile) arbitrary third parties 
can influence that profile. But the profile itself will have impact 
on the receiver of the emails. Can you be stigmatized because 
of third parties? An interesting question I think. 

This makes me (as a lawyer) feel uncomfortable as the 
bilateral relationsship between the freemail service and its user 
can be influenced from outside.