RSSDid you know that Google keeps your deleted emails?
May 23rd, 2006 by 
Adam
You may or may not be surprised to learn that Google (operators of Gmail – arguably one of the best free webmail systems available on the internet) keep copies of all your emails – deleted or otherwise. This may worry you, or it may not, but a short time ago, Google was ordered by a US court to hand over the contents of a user’s deleted emails.
This may be a big deal to you, it may not be. However, this reinforces the lack of privacy that is available in today’s online society. If you throw out a paper letter (shred it or burn it for example), it’s not recoverable. Ever. But this recent case has shown that even if you think an email is gone, someone somewhere can recover it. This is another reason for you to use free, readily available encryption technology particularly with sensetive emails. This way, if 3 years down the line Google (or any other email provider for that matter) decide they want to read an old, deleted email, they won’t be able to. It puts you back in control of your communications.
Cryptography setup instructions? They’re all right here.
Posted in Privacy | 
3 Comments »
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:41 pm
If I’m not doing anything wrong, then you have no cause to watch me…
By Bruce Schneier over on Wired: The Eternal Value of Privacy
The most common retort against privacy advocates — by those in favor of ID checks, cameras, databases, data mining and other wholesale surveillance measures — is this line: “If you aren’t doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?”
May 23rd, 2006 at 10:13 pm
This is an excellent point, well made. The idea behind the article cdaae is referencing is that privacy is a right – we shouldn’t have to make excuses for it.
The full Wired article is available here
December 26th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
Wow i never would have thought that such a thing would happen.