Google has published a blog post in response to The Wall Street Journal’s story detailing how third-party developers are able to read and analyze the contents of your Gmail messages.
The company also attempted to justify the practice, while providing assurances of a strict vetting process for developers and their apps:
A vibrant ecosystem of non-Google apps gives you choice and helps you get the most out of your email. However, before a published, non-Google app can access your Gmail messages, it goes through a multi-step review process that includes automated and manual review of the developer, assessment of the app’s privacy policy and homepage to ensure it is a legitimate app, and in-app testing to ensure the app works as it says it does.
In order to pass Google's review process, non-Google apps need to meet a couple of key requirements.
Firstly, they have to accurately represent themselves, which means providing clear privacy disclosures and being upfront about how they're using user data. Second, they can only ask for data that they need for their specific function, and Google says that it has denied permissions to developers who have requested access to Gmail.
The blog post also goes on to offer tips to ensure your data remains in the hands of trusted sources only. These include reviewing the permissions screen before granting access to a non-Google app and using the Security Checkup tool to review all non-Google apps that have access to your data. The tool flags potentially risky apps and lets you revoke any permissions granted previously.
G Suite admins at businesses concerned about privacy are also able to decide what data users can grant non-Google apps. This is done by whitelisting connected OAuth apps, so users can only give access to non-Google apps that are trusted by their organization.
The WSJ story didn't uncover any evidence of wrongdoing from third-party apps using Gmail, but it calls further attention to the previously little-known industry practice where companies like Google and Facebook give third-party developers access to user data.
After the flak that Facebook has taken over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the onus is on Google to convince users and businesses that it is a more responsible steward of user information. For example, the company announced last year that it would stop scanning the contents of Gmail users' messages in order to deliver targeted ads.
Source: Google
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.