SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday May 01 2018, @04:11PM (4 children)
Your browser might not get the message in text format. It could be pixels. I don't know if it is, but just saying.
Of course, you can copy/paste pixels. Take screenshots. Take pictures with a camera that is NOT connected to Google.
Imagine if Google were to recognize that you used a Google device (eg, Android phone) to take a picture of a Gmail Confidential mail, and Google were to delete that photo.
Will Gmail confidential emails allow attachments, such as:
* a video of war crimes?
* the highly anticipated "pee pee" tapes in a Russian hotel?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Tuesday May 01 2018, @07:32PM (3 children)
The whole thing is fucking ludicrous. Only if both parties, sender and receiver, are locked into the Google ecosystem with Google apps, does this even have a chance of working.
Email is Sender -> Sender Mail Server -> Receiving Mail Server -> Recipient. Google at most controls half of it in most situations, and needs 100% for it to actually work. About the same efficacy as read receipts in email.
I've thought of self-destructing messages, but the ONLY way they work is both sender and recipient give up control over their devices and allow a 3rd party complete control. Otherwise, a self-destructing message could be stopped or recovered. That kind of hardware is antithetical to most of us here.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 02 2018, @03:25AM
You can never beat the cellphone picture of the screen, and I see people do that all the time.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Wednesday May 02 2018, @10:06AM (1 child)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday May 02 2018, @07:26PM
LOL, then it's really fucking useless. I understand that on my side of things, I'm just storing an email containing a link. That's no different than some of the file sharing services out there operating professionally, since most mail servers will tell you to fuck off when you try a 250GB attachment.
I don't think people will appreciate it all that much, since a link doesn't remind you about the content. You might not even have a subject line. Which means it's all the more easier to delete it on my end.
As for the obfuscation, anything that makes it more difficult to review, edit, and/or copy the content will just make workflow that much more disrupted. You're correct too, I can still copy and archive the information on my end if I want too. What I predict though, is that this security may prove too disruptive for some users, and they will demand it be resent without protection or the user will opt to not use self-destruct.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.