'Some people might consider that to be a dirty secret,' Mr Loder told the Wall Street Journal. He said eDataSource employees had reviewed emails when building and improving software algorithms. It detailed how companies such as Return Path and Edison Software review Gmail users' emails to help them train their company's software and build new email features for marketing and other purposes.įormer chief technology officer at eDataSource Inc Thede Loder told the newspaper it was 'common practice' for companies that collect this type of email data to let employees read user emails. Google's response comes after a report in the Wall Street Journal claimed Google allowed apps including shopping price comparison and travel itinerary platforms to 'read' emails using automated tools.Īccording to the outlet, Google does little to police the activities of these developers who use computers and employees, in some cases, to read their users' emails.
Most recently, the Cambridge Analytica scandal got Facebook into trouble after an external app used a personality quiz to collect user data.
The furore continues an ongoing theme in Silicon Valley: the security risks posed by third-party apps attached to popular web platforms.
