In major relief for some 30 million users, mostly minors, global search engine giant Google has now announced that it will no longer ‘scan’ the email messages of students using its Google Apps for Education suite. The suite is used by students at all levels and scanning their emails had become a major bone of contention for Google even as rivals like Microsoft, as well as privacy advocates continue to criticise the company for its alleged covert practices
“We’ve permanently removed all ads scanning in Gmail for Apps for Education, which means Google cannot collect or use student data in Apps for Education services for advertising purposes,” Bram Bout, director of Google for Education was quoted in a blog post. Further, the option for Apps for Education administrators to allow ads to be shown to their users is also going down the drain for good now. “We’re also making similar changes for all our Google Apps customers, including Business, Government and for legacy users of the free version, and we’ll provide an update when the rollout is complete,” Bout wrote.
In addition, education users running AdSense ads on sites created with the Google Sites Web builder service will no longer be able to create new ads as well.
Google had earlier updated its terms of service to explicitly warn that “automated systems analyse your content for the sake of ads, customisation and security.” According to Google, the move will bring even greater clarity to users as also save the company from frustrating lawsuits. It’s also based on the regular feedback it has been receiving over the last few months.
