Amid news Google has been giving third-party apps access to the data of millions of its email users, a cyber security expert in Toronto says it’s time for consumers to demand safeguards.
A Wall Street Journal report found the tech giant has been letting outside software developers scan Gmail inboxes, read messages and send and delete messages on the user’s behalf.
The apps do need consent, but the terms of that consent are not clear, the article says. Users don’t know, for example, that actual human beings who work for the app developers — not just computers — can and do scan their emails.
“Not anther day passes where I think people get shocked by how much of their personal information is out there,” says Cypfer CEO Daniel Tobok.
“We have gotten used to this fable, this imagination, that we are fully protected on our devices and our Gmail. That’s not right. That’s a false sense of security.”
