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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Google will slowly be rolling out a number of changes for consumer Gmail users and G Suite users. Some of the changes improve usability and productivity, while others are meant to maximize data and user protection. Some of the new security options should help enterprise users meed GDPR compliance needs.
[...] Gmail confidential mode will allow users to:
- Set expiration dates for emails or revoke previously sent messages
- Secure access to the contents of emails by requiring recipients to enter a password
- Restrict the recipients’ ability to forward, copy, download or print emails.
These things will be possible because these emails will not be actually downloaded in the recipients’ inbox, but will be placed on a separate page/window where their content can be viewed, and the email will show that page.
Guess I'll be switching to ProtonMail for my webmail needs, which, granted, are few.
Source: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2018/04/26/gmail-self-destructing-emails/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @03:56PM (1 child)
Scenario:
A company ("Company") sends out an email with very specific details (an offer, a contract clause, a promise, etc). The email is "self-destructing". The offer/contract clause/promise is accepted by recipient. Thirty days later, the self-destructing email vanishes, along with recipient's proof of the offer/contract clause/promise.
The issue now is beyond a single problem for the recipient. The initial problem, that recipient feels the offer/contract clause/promise has been breached, is one thing. However, recipient now must find proof of the offer/contract clause/promise. The email has self-destructed, so he has none.
Did recipient print a copy? Perhaps, but Company can disclaim this as proof, since the printout is not in the original form. Therefore, using the printout as legal proof may require court action, requiring filing a financially risky lawsuit. What if there was an arbitration clause? Now recipient must risk losing in arbitration court - where there is no jury to consider beyond what the for-hire "judge" accepts as proof - and potentially risking arbitration court costs.
Recipient also has a problem with the "self-destructing" email itself: email messages don't just self-destruct. A server instruction is what would actually delete the message. Which server deleted the message? Probably the recipient's email server or email provider. So, recipient can't make a claim against Company for evidence destruction.
My point here is that the entire justification for "self-destructing" email is an excuse for hiding/destroying written promises, and this will be widely used by companies to further screw consumers, employees, smaller business partners, etc.
Your safest bet is to not use software or services that support self-destructing email and never accept such emails in the first place.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 02 2018, @01:04AM
IAAL and this isn't as big of a deal as you think. First is that the email doesn't just disappear, there is other evidence that it existed, such as logs, testimony, the fact you accepted the offer at all. Second is that a party wouldn't be bound to arbitration, as there would probably be a dispute that an arbitration clause applies at all and there are limits to what arbitrators are allowed to do under the law. Third is that given that the recipient's copy was destroyed, let alone due to an act instigated by the sender, other evidence is allowed under the best evidence rule. Fourth is that certain transactions (most in the U.S. and E.U.) require the preservation of terms and are void (or voidable, depending on the exact context) if not preserved at the party's fault.