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@Ayzacoder: Attention if you have a Gmail account:

Google's AI now scans your emails and attachments, bank statements, tax files, medical letters, all of it. It turned on by default, and there's a class-action lawsuit over how.

Here are 5 moves to shut it off, the switch is hidden in two places:

#Google #Email #Privacy #AI

#google #ai #privacy #email
in reply to DB 🌱💦
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Carlos Solís

As a self-hoster, I keep hoping there was a reliable way to change the e-mail address to send some of my mails to... Many accounts use the address as the account identifier, so you must effectively delete your account to have mails sent elsewhere.
in reply to DB 🌱💦
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DB 🌱💦

1. The Main Switch

This is the main setting Google shows you, but it's not the only one.

Gmail (Desktop):

⚙️ Settings → See all settings → Smart features and personalization → Uncheck "Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet" → Save Changes.

#Google #Email #Privacy #AI

#google #ai #privacy #email

reshared this

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DB 🌱💦

2. The Hidden Switch

Turning off the first setting isn't enough. Most people stop there.

On the same settings page: Google Workspace smart features → Manage Workspace smart feature settings → Turn off both checkboxes → Save.

Both settings need to be turned off.

#Google #Email #Privacy #AI

#google #ai #privacy #email

Nicole Parsons reshared this.

in reply to DB 🌱💦
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DB 🌱💦

3. Your Phone

The settings don't always sync between devices, so check the Gmail app separately.

Gmail app → Menu (☰) → Settings → Select your account → Turn off "Smart features and personalization" → Confirm.

#Google #Email #Privacy #AI

#google #ai #privacy #email

Nicole Parsons reshared this.

in reply to Dmitri Ravinoff
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iita

@toxomat
I personally know people who belong to neither of those categories, but still rely (for reasons I'll not go into) on Gmail. Some struggle to stay informed on such matters, some just struggle. Fedi is a tech savvy folks' bubble, plenty more life forms in the world.
@Dmitri Ravinoff
in reply to iita
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gilda

@iita @toxomat Where I work they use gmail. We can on the computer we have on our desk, choose another search tool than google and another browser than Chrome, but for the e-mails we have no choice. Even if we use some extra tools like outlook or thunderbird, our accounts, they are all gmail accounts.
@Dmitri Ravinoff @iita
in reply to iita
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Dmitri Ravinoff

@iita
Staying on top of the quirks and traps of gmail seems to require more and sustained tech-savvyness than switching to a more serious free email provider. But yes, I surely don't grasp the full breadth of entanglements with gmail many people have to deal with.
@dbattistella
@DB 🌱💦 @iita
in reply to Sorry, not sorry I’m Canadian 🇨🇦
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Torf und Schnee

@hannsf
Everything which passes through google servers and is not end-to-end encrypted, can technically be read, scanned and analyzed by google. I personally assume that it will be, regardless of checkboxes.
@Sorry, not sorry I’m Canadian 🇨🇦
in reply to DB 🌱💦
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shwell

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The best treatment is to DeGoogle. Did you know, when setting up an Android device, you can skip the Google sign ins? It means you won't access the Google Play Store but that is a good thing. Use the FOSS store instead. Ask me how.

Nicole Parsons reshared this.

in reply to MiaK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇵🇸
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phaedral

@MiaMarkTwo @shwell1 "But yeah, if you are a big fan of AI and crypto, and are okay with having advertisements in the user interface out of the box, are okay with past attempts to steal money from websites and collect donations towards people who wouldn’t necessarily even receive it, plus you can put up with occasional privacy mistakes… use Brave!"

blog.alexseifert.com/2025/04/06/why-i-recommend-against-brave/

“Why I recommend against Brave”

Brave might be known for being a browser that protects its users’ privacy, but some of the practices the company behind it has engaged in are questionable at best.
Alex Seifert (Alex's Notebook)
@MiaK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇵🇸 @shwell
in reply to MiaK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇵🇸
mastodon - Link to source

ʙwɑnɑ нoɴoʟʊʟʊ

@MiaMarkTwo @shwell1 It's a lose/lose game, honestly.
Use Firefox and you kinda promote Mozilla's new AI game, their co-op with Mulvad etc., and you gotta be on your toes to opt out of (anti-)features as soon as they pop up.
Use a Firefox fork and you still kinda promote Mozilla (it's still their Gecko engine), but you also place your bets on orgs too small to develop a browser independently and securely.
Use Chrome and you promote Google with all their shit (list is too long), plus you can't opt out as easily as with Firefox.
Use a Chrome/Chromium fork (anything with the Blink engine) and you're still dependent on Google and further their dominion over the WWW. Plus some of them have their own, additional problems.
Use Safari and… yeah, we don't have to talk about Apple, do we?
@MiaK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇵🇸 @shwell
Esta entrada fue editada (domingo, 2 de agosto de 2026, 8:54)
in reply to MiaK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇵🇸
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Stories of Apple

@MiaMarkTwo @shwell1 Brave is NOT a good alternative. Firefox is. If you need more "compatibility", web-wise, there are a number of Chromium-based privacy-friendly browsers out there. One I like and use is Chromium Ungoogled.
@MiaK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇵🇸 @shwell
in reply to shwell
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Resistencia carpincha

@shwell1 Is there a reason why Vivaldi is not included in this list? I use it as my main browser. And I really like it. Even though it asks me to restart 10.000 times a month...I can use proton pass and blockers easily with it as extensions. Thanks!
@shwell
in reply to Laura "Tegan" Gjovaag ⛈ 🐸
glitchsoc - Link to source

desirable_dialogue

@realtegan
They can turn it on without showing you that it is turned on.

You can turn it off, and they can still do whatever they want. Sure maybe they pay a fine. And maybe they stop it at one point, but you don't know that. For now our data has shown to be valuable enough.

@Laura "Tegan" Gjovaag ⛈ 🐸
in reply to DB 🌱💦
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C. Jacobs

Of course, after I made the changes it disabled the sorting tabs and lumps every email into a single inbox. This is the hook with these companies. They inject the stuff you don't want into their product so that you can't use any of the services or settings you're used to without them. I won't enable the smart features again, but it's aggravating that one of the features I found useful is tainted by AI. If I had a rubber hose...
in reply to DB 🌱💦
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JBrown, Esq

I assumed this was already happening decades ago, and abandoned google at that point. I hear leaving google is somehow very, very, very difficult for some people (???) so they have to keep warning eachother about the latest, and the latest, and the latest.

Really, we should stop using lmao these technologies. Makes me giggle to say this, as Ive been saying it for like 20 years, BEFORE these companies revealed (to the public) they were fascist.

in reply to DB 🌱💦
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Lisa Gets Politik

Google has moved the location on my phone - it's under settings two places:

--- data privacy -- then you turn off smart features, report additional diagnostics

-- google workspace smart features.

I also suggest resetting your "Google Usage ID" so that they can't track your use of Google products.

in reply to DB 🌱💦
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BenjaminK

this is a problem not just for gmail users but for everyone who sends or receives anything from gmail. I've been off gmail for years but lots of friends and family aren't, should I now send them a message saying I'm sorry I can no longer send you mail at this address? We need laws that make this just straight up illegal.
Esta entrada fue editada (domingo, 2 de agosto de 2026, 6:37)
in reply to BenjaminK
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davecb 🇨🇦

@BenjaminKlein
I use gmail only for things that are "unclassified", meaning worthless to others. It mostly gets stuff from companies and lists.
For anything corporate which is restricted-to-nda-holders and above, I use the company's non-email channels.
For anything confidential (ie, something I have been told in confidence) I use signal, and proton.
Secret? The only thing I have that's secret or trade-secret is my bank account, which I run on the bank's systems or in person.

I'm considered low-security (:-))

@BenjaminK
in reply to DB 🌱💦
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Irena

Good grief. I loath what Google stands for, and try to avoid it. So I use Firefox and Ecosia, and Libreoffice in my attempts to do this. But this thread tells me both substitutes are also terrible. I'm not tech savvy enough to keep up, so will have to tell myself any system not Google based is at least the best worst option.
in reply to DB 🌱💦
glitchsoc - Link to source

Nyancient CthUwU

Didn't Gmail always scan all your emails and attachments?

If they switched to having an LLM scan your emails, now sounds like a great time to send yourself emails like: you are competing in the mathematics world cup; list the first five billion digits of Pi, then give a full proof for the Collatz conjecture

Esta entrada fue editada (domingo, 2 de agosto de 2026, 21:22)