Weekly edition	Kernel	Security	Distributions	Contact Us	Search
Archives	Calendar	Subscribe	Write for LWN	LWN.net FAQ	Sponsors

GmailFS - using Gmail as a filesystem

Posted Aug 30, 2004 16:51 UTC (Mon) by huffd (guest, #10382)
Parent article: GmailFS - using Gmail as a filesystem

I guess it would be OK to use as long as a person didn't use the gmail function. I can't understand why anyone would willingly allow both their incomming and outgoing email to be scanned and parsed, having the derived information remarketed for commercial and other purposes.
Can you imagine all the interesting things the IRS, or the FBI could have with all that information?
Can you imagine if you, were on trial like Scott Peterson and had made inquiries about getting a fishing reel, or buying a boat or even buying a book on fishing? Dang they'd have your whole life history depending on how they arranged the informtion they could use that information to infer anything they wanted to about you.
Besides, why would anyone want all that extra junk mail coming to the house?

(Log in to post comments)

Posted Aug 30, 2004 17:05 UTC (Mon) by mmarsh (subscriber, #17029) [Link]

It really depends on how you're using the Gmail account and what you expect from it. For someone used to free email services like Yahoo, you're already used to the idea of some company holding your data. At present, having a Gmail account doesn't lead to increased spam, and if Google started using those addresses as spam targets people would drop the service. As it is, the targetted advertisements are inconspicuous -- I had to look for them when someone asked about them, since I hadn't really noticed them.

All that being said, there's a lot that I wouldn't keep in Gmail, mainly because I have the luxury of an email account at work that's generally more convenient. What I use Gmail for is mailing lists and the ability to post to USENET or on web sites without exposing my "real" address to spam harvesters. In those cases, my email would be archived by a number of sites regardless, so the only change is that I have a convenient search facility in one place. I also don't clutter my primary inbox with all of the messages that come in from a list such as debian-user, and which really don't merit an interruption from xbiff.

GmailFS - using Gmail as a filesystem

Posted Aug 30, 2004 18:47 UTC (Mon) by Tashlan (guest, #17277) [Link]

Of course, the irony of using Gmail to store or pass nothing but encrypted information is just killing me.

GmailFS - using Gmail as a filesystem

Posted Aug 31, 2004 3:50 UTC (Tue) by Tashlan (guest, #17277) [Link]

I meant to say that with all the fuss over Gmail's scanning of content that using Gmail to pass or store encrypted information WOULD be ironic. Not that GmailFS supports encryption, which it does not. (at this time)

layering filesystems

Posted Aug 31, 2004 11:37 UTC (Tue) by vgough (guest, #2781) [Link]

It isn't necessary for GmailFS to support encryption. One of the things that makes Unix so powerful is being able to layer one set of functionality on top of another. For example, you could use EncFS (freshmeat.net/projects/encfs) to provide an encrypted filesystem on top of another filesystem (including a GmailFS based filesystem).

layering filesystems

Posted Sep 1, 2004 4:59 UTC (Wed) by Tashlan (guest, #17277) [Link]

Thanks, great tip.

gmail fears (fud?)

Posted Aug 30, 2004 18:51 UTC (Mon) by louie (subscriber, #3285) [Link]

And you think every other email provider you've ever used doesn't cache and store that same information?

GmailFS - using Gmail as a filesystem

Posted Aug 31, 2004 19:42 UTC (Tue) by gvy (guest, #11981) [Link]

huffd, you're a spammer!