I realise that Google places ads in the native Gmail environment. However, when using a third party front end to embed the Google services, how does the company make money off that? When I use Thunderbird to access Gmail or the Google Calendar or when I map my Google Drive to the file explorer, how can Google profit from this kind of use?

  • hperrin@lemmy.caEnglish
    2·
    1 个月前

    The knowledge of what you do, where you work, who you talk to, what you eat, who your doctor is, where you shop, everywhere you go, what diseases or disorders you have, what kind of clothes you wear, what your family life is like, etc, are incredibly valuable to a company trying to show you ads. It doesn’t matter if you don’t see them through Gmail. Google owns so much of the internet, you’ll see them eventually.

    Get your email from an email company, not an ad company.

  • devx00@infosec.pubEnglish
    1·
    2 个月前

    I recommend the book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff. It’s from 2018 but it is still very applicable. It explains what big tech is doing/trying to do with your data and how they intend to make money.

    It’s info dense and may take some time to get through but it is very eye opening even for someone like myself that felt pretty well aware of their tactics and intentions before reading the book.

    • Meron35@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 个月前

      Shoshana Zuboff really was ahead of its time. So many people who were privacy conscious and therefore thought they were clever by simply thinking that Google makes money by only selling your data completely missed the scale of manipulation and control big tech has (myself included).

      Google/big tech doesn’t sell your data. Google/big tech sells advertisers predictions of your behaviour, a highly refined, processed version of your data. Advertisers cannot purchase your data, only “impressions” or “views.” In an extra sinister twist, Google/big tech then uses it’s resources to manipulate you in ways such that their predictions become true.

      This is why their predictions are the best, because after making them, they have a financial incentive to manipulate them into being true. It is why we naturally see more and more polarization, because after Google has sold the prediction that you will engage is a specific type of content (e.g. right ring rabbit holes), it is financially incentivised to make that a reality, and therefore further push you in that direction, to make their prediction true.

      How to “improve” prediction using behavior modification - ScienceDirect - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169207022001066

  • DannyBoy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    2 个月前

    I wonder what percentage of people access Gmail and Calendar through third party frontends in 2025. I would bet the number is very low.

  • heavydust@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    2 个月前

    Don’t forget that most people do not use external applications such as Thunderbird. You’re a blip on the radar.

  • slazer2au@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 个月前

    Metadata.

    It knows who you are talking to from the to and from fields, possibly the context based on the subject, if the do scan the email contents then they will know what you are interested in.

    Gather that info with your search history it can sell targeted advertising.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 个月前

      They’re scanning the email contents.

      and your google drive contents.

      and everything else you send through their services.