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G-mail intrusions  [message #70867] Wed, 20 January 2016 03:42 Go to next message
larkinjet is currently offline  larkinjet

Getting started
Location: New England
Registered: November 2015
Messages: 7



I deleted several G-mails from my mail box.
 
A Google alert came on .. It said,  "You can retrieve deleted mail at anytime."
It then suggested that instead of deleting it, I should place in my archive..

I followed Google support to a person named, Vivian.
Vivian repeated in text.  You may retrieve deleted mail if you like.  Perhaps you could place it in your archive?
I was a friendly request that felt like a command..

I wrote, "I delete mail because I want it deleted!"

It was then that I realized that placing discarded correspondence in the archive was actually legal cover if they needed to access my deleted mail for whatever reason.
It also suggests to me that my deleted mail is never actually deleted..

I wrote my helpful Google support, Vivian..

Vivian, suppose I went over to your house and sorted through your garbage and retrieved your discarded love letters? Wouldn't you regard that as a gross intrusion?

Vivian, what was Google's motto again?   Wasn't it, "Do No Evil."?

I do not think for a moment that I am the only one getting these sort of prompts but I do find it, ...unsettling. 
 

[Updated on: Wed, 20 January 2016 03:46]




“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ”
― George Orwell
Re: G-mail intrusions  [message #70868 is a reply to message #70867] Wed, 20 January 2016 03:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Smokr is currently offline  Smokr

Likes it here
Location: the burning former USofA
Registered: July 2010
Messages: 399



Gmail and Google have gone well past the point of decency. They should change their motto to "Doin' Evil"
Pretty much everything sent or recieved by a GMail account is stored and saved and shared and analyzed and sold to advertisers.



raysstories.com
Re: G-mail intrusions  [message #70870 is a reply to message #70868] Wed, 20 January 2016 09:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



You may also thank terrorists for this service. Governments wish to trawl through emails to find terrorist activity. All this means that the terrorists have won because we have surrendered to them.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: G-mail intrusions  [message #70887 is a reply to message #70870] Thu, 21 January 2016 04:15 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Smokr is currently offline  Smokr

Likes it here
Location: the burning former USofA
Registered: July 2010
Messages: 399



Agreed.



raysstories.com
Re: G-mail intrusions  [message #70929 is a reply to message #70887] Mon, 25 January 2016 01:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
James Matthews is currently offline  James Matthews

Toe is in the water
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: May 2015
Messages: 93



Why let it worry you? As long as you are not doing anything against the law in your country then you have nothing to hide, surely. Many may scream at their computer screen for what I am about to say but I personally think there should be more surveillance and more intrusion when it warrants it. I was recently listening to a debate on BBC radio 4 between the radio host and the head of MI5 (UK secret service) who said that tackling Islamic extremism, Pedophilia rings, Drug trafficking, people smuggling etc tec is made harder because of laws saying that we are entitled to our privacy. My view is that if I follow the rules and law of the country I live in and I am not involved in anything illegal who gives a shit at who is looking at my e-mails, watching me on CCTV, listening to my phone calls etc etc. It is likely that the person who is "watching" me I will never meet in my life so why should I care. I am quite aware that at any given point in my existence I have been recorded, watched, filed, put in a database, stored on a disc, had my internet download data looked into... you get the picture. But has any of this ever caused an inconvenience in my life? Has it ever stopped me from doing anything? Nope. In fact for all I know, it never happened.  

Unfortunately due to the fact the world is breeding some pretty nasty people nowadays, we have a choice. We either give up our privacy or we risk these bad apples getting away with what a lot of them do already. Most people will always argue for more privacy until it is one of their family members who are taken out of a tube station in several pieces after some nut case decides to e-mail a few of his friends and arrange to blow it up. My view? (and again some of you may scream at the screen) Close our borders, ban religion full stop, bring back capital punishment, Immediately execute all current prisoners of child murder/rape and Terrorism offenses and ban all internet sites promoting hate... ALL hate!

See, Utopia is not that far away after all, you just gotta have the balls to be in government and be able to say to your country, this shit stops now! I know one guy who is doing it and he aint British. Shame, I would vote for him in an instant.   

[Updated on: Mon, 25 January 2016 01:28] by Moderator

Re: G-mail intrusions  [message #70931 is a reply to message #70929] Mon, 25 January 2016 04:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Smokr is currently offline  Smokr

Likes it here
Location: the burning former USofA
Registered: July 2010
Messages: 399



*cringes*



raysstories.com
Re: G-mail intrusions  [message #70933 is a reply to message #70931] Mon, 25 January 2016 04:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
James Matthews is currently offline  James Matthews

Toe is in the water
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: May 2015
Messages: 93



Quote:
Smokr wrote on Mon, 25 January 2016 04:00*cringes*

--

Sorry Smokr, am becoming consciously aware than whenever we debate on a subject we always seem to disagree lol, Still love you, and I do respect all debates from all people.I am just a self opinionated debater (I said debator, not wank!) that bangs my drum on certain issues.

No hard feelings to your or anyone else as the debates I love, and I like arguing a point. I hope I do that in good grace and I know you do too!

Smile

Hugz 
Re: G-mail intrusions  [message #71028 is a reply to message #70929] Sun, 07 February 2016 16:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
larkin is currently offline  larkin

Toe is in the water
Location: Massachusetts
Registered: June 2015
Messages: 58



"Quote:"
WestcliffWriter wrote on Mon, 25 January 2016 01:27Why let it worry you? As long as you are not doing anything against the law in your country then you have nothing to hide, surely. Many may scream at their computer screen for what I am about to say but I personally think there should be more surveillance and more intrusion when it warrants it. I was recently listening to a debate on BBC radio 4 between the radio host and the head of MI5 (UK secret service) who said that tackling Islamic extremism, Pedophilia rings, Drug trafficking, people smuggling etc tec is made harder because of laws saying that we are entitled to our privacy. My view is that if I follow the rules and law of the country I live in and I am not involved in anything illegal who gives a shit at who is looking at my e-mails, watching me on CCTV, listening to my phone calls etc etc. It is likely that the person who is "watching" me I will never meet in my life so why should I care. I am quite aware that at any given point in my existence I have been recorded, watched, filed, put in a database, stored on a disc, had my internet download data looked into... you get the picture. But has any of this ever caused an inconvenience in my life? Has it ever stopped me from doing anything? Nope. In fact for all I know, it never happened.  

Unfortunately due to the fact the world is breeding some pretty nasty people nowadays, we have a choice. We either give up our privacy or we risk these bad apples getting away with what a lot of them do already. Most people will always argue for more privacy until it is one of their family members who are taken out of a tube station in several pieces after some nut case decides to e-mail a few of his friends and arrange to blow it up. My view? (and again some of you may scream at the screen) Close our borders, ban religion full stop, bring back capital punishment, Immediately execute all current prisoners of child murder/rape and Terrorism offenses and ban all internet sites promoting hate... ALL hate!

See, Utopia is not that far away after all, you just gotta have the balls to be in government and be able to say to your country, this shit stops now! I know one guy who is doing it and he aint British. Shame, I would vote for him in an instant.   

--
Mr. Westcliff,
 
Try Googling your real name into a Google browser... All the predictable content will pop-up of how up-standing your life has been as is your work contributions. 
 
"A spotless life for all to see!"
 
But so will every story you've written, the content of which will appear for all friends, family and police to see prominently, right next to your public personae.  Go on, I dare you to Google yourself..
 
You may say, "I'm gay and proud and at least I'm not a pedophile."
 
Many stupid people will make value judgments on your character.  Along with it the possibility, without much effort, the ability to unearth every e-mail you've ever sent, every late night chat after having a little too much to drink, every curiosity driven search to places that maybe you shouldn't go.. Add to this the possibility of a casual association to a friend linking you to somebody dangerous who has already been targeted by GCHQ and even the NSA out of the US. 
 
I do believe that the proliferation of surveillance on London's streets is for public safety but this is not what I am referring to.  I am referring to the wholesale collection of data by your government and mine. 
 
Personally I believe that the UK is a bit more civilized than the US but they Inextricably tied together and become more and more alike every day.  I am not so sure about GCHQ but you can be the cleanest, the whitest and the saintliest person and the NSA will find a way to characterize you as a social villain. The stock and trade of secret surveillance is black mail.  
 
You may say, "I'm gay and proud.  I've a right to be with who I love."
 
In the UK and the US  today, Some individuals like some homosexuals, but in general most people don't like or appreciate them.  Tolerance is tenuous and these are the sort of things that governments exploit.  The passive public may be nodding their heads in approval today but tomorrow they could be filled with outrage and calling for blood..
 Gay acceptability will always be in a precarious position.  They are at best and forever subject to fall.  
 
In Germany between the wars, 1919-1933, the Weimar Republic was a free and liberal democracy.  For the first time in modern history homosexual groups were uniting and fighting for public recognition.  A vital culture sprung up and with it an intellectual and legal rationale for gay liberation. 
 
A few short years later homosexuals in all its forms had suddenly become enemies of the state.  The police came in the dead of the night and took them away.  I would say that, like the Jews, most died in the camps. No one cared because these were awful people because they were not like themselves..
 
It is interesting to know that when the American forces liberated the concentration camps in 1944, they released the Jews but kept the homosexuals imprisoned as criminals.   
 
My point in this round-about commentary is that the foundation has already been laid.  It was done incrementally and what happened in the modern and civilized German state, can and it will happen again.  What is in place today in the US and in the UK is a vivid Stasi wet dream.  All they need are scapegoats.   Scapegoats are groups and individuals to blame for unrelated problems that allow the government cover for their own malfeasance and there are many problems on the horizon..
 
Mr, W, you impress me as intelligent but to recite the twaddle from off the TV is a disappointment.
The day could easily come when something must be done about this homosexual problem.  
 

[Updated on: Sun, 07 February 2016 16:14]

Re: G-mail intrusions  [message #71042 is a reply to message #71028] Mon, 08 February 2016 23:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
James Matthews is currently offline  James Matthews

Toe is in the water
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: May 2015
Messages: 93



"Quote:"
larkin wrote on Sun, 07 February 2016 16:09
"Quote:"
WestcliffWriter wrote on Mon, 25 January 2016 01:27Why let it worry you? As long as you are not doing anything against the law in your country then you have nothing to hide, surely. Many may scream at their computer screen for what I am about to say but I personally think there should be more surveillance and more intrusion when it warrants it. I was recently listening to a debate on BBC radio 4 between the radio host and the head of MI5 (UK secret service) who said that tackling Islamic extremism, Pedophilia rings, Drug trafficking, people smuggling etc tec is made harder because of laws saying that we are entitled to our privacy. My view is that if I follow the rules and law of the country I live in and I am not involved in anything illegal who gives a shit at who is looking at my e-mails, watching me on CCTV, listening to my phone calls etc etc. It is likely that the person who is "watching" me I will never meet in my life so why should I care. I am quite aware that at any given point in my existence I have been recorded, watched, filed, put in a database, stored on a disc, had my internet download data looked into... you get the picture. But has any of this ever caused an inconvenience in my life? Has it ever stopped me from doing anything? Nope. In fact for all I know, it never happened.  

Unfortunately due to the fact the world is breeding some pretty nasty people nowadays, we have a choice. We either give up our privacy or we risk these bad apples getting away with what a lot of them do already. Most people will always argue for more privacy until it is one of their family members who are taken out of a tube station in several pieces after some nut case decides to e-mail a few of his friends and arrange to blow it up. My view? (and again some of you may scream at the screen) Close our borders, ban religion full stop, bring back capital punishment, Immediately execute all current prisoners of child murder/rape and Terrorism offenses and ban all internet sites promoting hate... ALL hate!

See, Utopia is not that far away after all, you just gotta have the balls to be in government and be able to say to your country, this shit stops now! I know one guy who is doing it and he aint British. Shame, I would vote for him in an instant.   

--
Mr. Westcliff,
 
Try Googling your real name into a Google browser... All the predictable content will pop-up of how up-standing your life has been as is your work contributions. 
 
"A spotless life for all to see!"
 
But so will every story you've written, the content of which will appear for all friends, family and police to see prominently, right next to your public personae.  Go on, I dare you to Google yourself..
 
You may say, "I'm gay and proud and at least I'm not a pedophile."
 
Many stupid people will make value judgments on your character.  Along with it the possibility, without much effort, the ability to unearth every e-mail you've ever sent, every late night chat after having a little too much to drink, every curiosity driven search to places that maybe you shouldn't go.. Add to this the possibility of a casual association to a friend linking you to somebody dangerous who has already been targeted by GCHQ and even the NSA out of the US. 
 
I do believe that the proliferation of surveillance on London's streets is for public safety but this is not what I am referring to.  I am referring to the wholesale collection of data by your government and mine. 
 
Personally I believe that the UK is a bit more civilized than the US but they Inextricably tied together and become more and more alike every day.  I am not so sure about GCHQ but you can be the cleanest, the whitest and the saintliest person and the NSA will find a way to characterize you as a social villain. The stock and trade of secret surveillance is black mail.  
 
You may say, "I'm gay and proud.  I've a right to be with who I love."
 
In the UK and the US  today, Some individuals like some homosexuals, but in general most people don't like or appreciate them.  Tolerance is tenuous and these are the sort of things that governments exploit.  The passive public may be nodding their heads in approval today but tomorrow they could be filled with outrage and calling for blood..
 Gay acceptability will always be in a precarious position.  They are at best and forever subject to fall.  
 
In Germany between the wars, 1919-1933, the Weimar Republic was a free and liberal democracy.  For the first time in modern history homosexual groups were uniting and fighting for public recognition.  A vital culture sprung up and with it an intellectual and legal rationale for gay liberation. 
 
A few short years later homosexuals in all its forms had suddenly become enemies of the state.  The police came in the dead of the night and took them away.  I would say that, like the Jews, most died in the camps. No one cared because these were awful people because they were not like themselves..
 
It is interesting to know that when the American forces liberated the concentration camps in 1944, they released the Jews but kept the homosexuals imprisoned as criminals.   
 
My point in this round-about commentary is that the foundation has already been laid.  It was done incrementally and what happened in the modern and civilized German state, can and it will happen again.  What is in place today in the US and in the UK is a vivid Stasi wet dream.  All they need are scapegoats.   Scapegoats are groups and individuals to blame for unrelated problems that allow the government cover for their own malfeasance and there are many problems on the horizon..
 
Mr, W, you impress me as intelligent but to recite the twaddle from off the TV is a disappointment.
The day could easily come when something must be done about this homosexual problem.  





--

I appreciate your response to my quoted rant, and you are right... totally, that Hitler took a step backwards in attitude when he decided to kill anyone who wasn't of pure blood. Just briefly on the Nazi subject if I may. Hitler was not actually opposed to homosexuals per say it's just they were a people in a collective group of what the Nazi's referred to as either having an inferior bloodline or being non-Aryan. It is true that he slaughtered thousands of them, but it was not because he saw men having sex with men as his main focus of distaste, it was all about the question of a superior race.

Back to your statement on homosexuals perhaps being the subject of 'collective hate' once again to the point of slaughter? Well that still happens today in some countries, but, and its a big but... I don't live in those countries. I live in the UK and UK laws I follow. If for instance I lived in Uganda, then I would most certainly change my attitude towards a lot of things, but I don't. I know, without doubt that whoever is in government I will be protected, and my sacrifice for that protection is to give up my privacy which I do not mind doing - because, as I have said, I am doing nothing illegal.

Now, lets turn back to your statement again of a Weimar Republic/National socialists situation arising. Firstly, we are talking about the difference between German culture and British culture. The UK like Germany has been through financial crashes (some might say a depression or two), economic hardship, high inflation, eye watering interest rates and unemployment that would turn most people to suicide. But I note that not once did Britain ever feel the need to turn to an extreme far right or far left government because they thought it would ever solve their problems. The furthest right this country has ever ventured is Thatcher and in comparison to extremes, she was a pussy cat.

The truth is the world has moved on and Europe will never see another Franco, Mussolini or Hitler. The continent is too in bed with each other no matter how much the member states argue.

I guess I am trying to make a point here of trying to understand and respond to your post (which looks to be split into two areas) I am happy being a homosexual yes, Confident that anything I have ever said/written online is legal, yes. On the blushometer scale of 1-10 I think the worst my family could find out about me is that I am a member of Xtube and like videos of men being deep throated. (in fact my dad already knows that because I told him drunk in a pub one night)

So to summerise... I live in a country where I will always have liberty no matter who is in power because attitudes towards gay people have progressed and cannot be taken back by governments OR the people. I am happy to give up my privacy for the safety of myself (and others) and d'you know what? Let people judge me, let the minority squirm at my lifestyle - there will always be those people. I am just happy living my life from a-b each day. We all have groups of people we don't like, but we tolerate them, and in 34 years no one has ever stopped me from doing what I want to do or took exception to how I live my life.

[Updated on: Mon, 08 February 2016 23:27] by Moderator

Re: G-mail intrusions  [message #71051 is a reply to message #71042] Tue, 09 February 2016 09:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



I always love it when Godwin's Law arrives in an online discussion



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: G-mail intrusions  [message #71065 is a reply to message #71051] Thu, 11 February 2016 04:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
JC is currently offline  JC

Getting started
Location: USA
Registered: October 2005
Messages: 25



Quote:
timmy wrote on Tue, 09 February 2016 01:55I always love it when Godwin's Law arrives in an online discussion

--It didn't take lone, did it?
Re: G-mail intrusions  [message #71066 is a reply to message #71042] Thu, 11 February 2016 06:45 Go to previous message
Pedro

Toe is in the water

Registered: March 2014
Messages: 93



Quote:
WestcliffWriter wrote on Mon, 08 February 2016 23:19
The truth is the world has moved on and Europe will never see another Franco, Mussolini or Hitler. The continent is too in bed with each other no matter how much the member states argue.

........

So to summerise... I live in a country where I will always have liberty no matter who is in power because attitudes towards gay people have progressed and cannot be taken back by governments OR the people.
.......
Let people judge me, let the minority squirm at my lifestyle - there will always be those people. I am just happy living my life from a-b each day. We all have groups of people we don't like, but we tolerate them, and in 34 years no one has ever stopped me from doing what I want to do or took exception to how I live my life.

--
1st para quoted: that is what was said before the break up of Yugoslavia. It took the best part of ten years for the Balkans to settle down again, if it truly has. More generally, the world has become such a small place that what happens on the other side of it has the potential to affect our (happy?)little corner.

2nd para quoted : cannot?  Don't kid yourself.

3rd para quoted: minorities can come into the ascendency. The minority that squirm at your lifestyle probably think the minority you belong to is in the ascendency at the moment and are waiting the opportunity to change that. You are lucky that you have had no one take exception to how you live your life in your 34 years. Some of us are old enough to remember when gay-bashing was a sport. It still is in parts of the world.

There are always those that think they know how we should lead our lives better than we do. We delegate power to our politicians, some may want to hold on to that power and are prepared to throw a minority or two to the wolves to do so.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and that means watching our own leaders and 'powers that be' as much as any outside threat.

 



Pedro
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