If you rent an apartment, you pay for it. If you use Gmail, you don't. Google somehow has to make money from something, so there is a incentive to mine your data.
But the main point is: an apartment is not an information system. Throughout history, governments have spied on information systems and systems providers will too. Hell, spouses spy on each other, given the chance.
It is simply common sense to limit the attack surface you present by hosting your own mail server - or not to care.
Re:About that time Google spied on my Gmail
by ghshephard on Friday March 21, 2014 @06:31PM
(#7445373)
I certainly pay google a fee for my Gmail account, as do most people I know who use Gmail, so don't be so certain of the "If you use gmail you don't pay for it."
most Gmail users dont.
Re:About that time Google spied on my Gmail
by ghshephard on Saturday March 22, 2014 @11:16PM
(#7451956)
I'm pretty sure that everyone who uses Google as the email manager for their domain now have to pay google - that includes business, universities, individuals, etc...
The only people who get "free" gmail, are people with an @gmail.com account, which in these days seems to be an awfully bad approach - makes it hard to switch your email to another provider if you run into issues with the old one.
Re:About that time Google spied on my Gmail
by stephenbez on Friday March 21, 2014 @06:32PM
(#7445381)
I pay for my Gmail:
http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/
They're certainly able to, and have the keys, but they're not allowed.
Privacy laws should be created (or interpreted) to provide similar protection for the privacy of our data stored by a service.