Cardinal Rule: Nothing comes free.
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On 11/12/04
From SiliconValley.com
Well, it's about time: Google is finally adding POP3 (Post Office Protocol) support to its Gmail service. Soon Gmail users will be able to check their accounts with POP3-compliant e-mail clients will be able to download their Gmail messages to their PCs, PDAs and cell phones. What's the catch? As one Slashdot reader points out, there isn't one as long as you agree to Gmail's terms of service. "The catch is the same as it has always been. They are algorithmically analysing your entire e-mail corpus (well, that was sent or received with Gmail, anyway) and correlating the data to determine trends, demographics, etc. It's not like they are hiding this; it's part of the agreement you make to get free e-mail. They have built a pipe through which a huge portion of the world's information flow can pass, and they are using it to
learn things about the world and about the structure and hierarchy of human relation- ships. The data is saleable, but they can profit from it without ever selling it, or ever letting any human agents access information that uniquely identifies YOU. Remember, they sell advertising. At a premium price. All marketing and advertising agencies do data gathering, and Gmail is how Google is doing it."
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