Googling Security: How Much Does Google Know About You?

5. Communications

Communication is the killer app driving the growth of the Internet. Whether it is via text, audio, images, file transfers, or video, humans and computers demand this most basic need. This chapter addresses threats associated with person-to-person communication by examining the services Google provides, including Gmail, Google Groups, Google Talk, and Google’s mobile-based applications. Every one of us, including our parents and grandparents, has used these or similar offerings by other online companies, and the major information-disclosure threats associated with communication impact us all. Machine processors can understand and mine the content of the messages we send, in any electronic format, as evidenced by context-specific ...