To Gmail or not to Gmail?

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I figured out how to get Gmail accounts but I am not sure I want to use mine because of all the controversy.
The con side says they are degrading what's left of our rights to privacy by getting permission to give our information to whomever they want and by using the content of our emails to display targeted advertisements.
I'm pretty paranoid to begin with but aren't all the other free email services doing the same thing?

I have a gmail account and I love it. I think the drawbacks are a very small price to pay for the benefits, and so long as no one besides me can actually read my emails I'm staying with Gmail.
Just my opinion, though.

It's OK. I sure with I could copy and paste into messages from other windows though. Ads don't bug me - that stuff's all robotic anyway. PS: I've got a few accounts if y'want one.

My understanding is they have a bot that reads the emails and then based on keywords identified therein you get ads related to those keywords.
I also read that you agree to let Google show your emails to interested government agencies. I wasn't clear on the circumstances.
I like the site because it is easy and doesn't flash banner ads. I have to cover my screen when I am using my hotmail account, which I am giving up. I got the same name on gmail - i thought that was awesome.
I am testing my theory about how I got the first two gmail accounts tomorrow at work when I try for a third.

I have 50 accounts to give away so just send me a PM if you want a gmail account. I love gmail.

I just looked and apparently I have 50 invites per username so if anyone is interested in getting an account let me know.

I was concerned about it at first, but I decided it wasn't that big of a deal eventually. At least, I decided it was no worse than other services and at least they're upfront about it. Here's and O'Reilly article on it.

Neuroman - You should get Firefox and the Adblock extension. There are other ad-blocking extensions, too, but I've never used them. Some of those banner ads drive me insane, but now I only ever have to see them once - I just right-click, select Block Ad and poof!

here is a how to I wrote on this forum earlier:

if you install firefox and then get the adblock extension you can right click on the picture and "AdBlock image"
<this is also can be used to block almost any type of advertisment over the internet... I never see ads or get pop ups (firefox by default kills popups that you do not request)>

you would never see it again

this is all free from http://www.mozilla.org/

<you can just go to this link or follow the paragraph below: http://downloads.mozdev.org/adblock/adblock-0.5-dev.xpi>
and then to get the extension installed you need to goto (in firefox) Tools -> Extensions then there is a blue hyperlink on the bottom the little box that pops up and click it (it says "Get More Extensions"). Then at the site you need to search / find Adblock and install the current branch (look for something that says 'dev builds' and click on 'Adblock 0.5 d2 nightly 39')

now that you clicked on it, you will get a little box that says if you want to install this you must add adblock.mozdev.org to your trusted install sites (for xpi extensions)... click allow. Now you might have to find the same download link again and click it once more, it should install this time. Then after its done, close your firefox browser and restart it. You can now right click on whatever image you want you don't want to see and select "adblock image". Its gone. You can do this however many times you want to whatever you want.

also, if you want no advertisments in general just download (as a text file): http://www.pierceive.com/filtersetg/2005-07-16a.txt
Then you can go to the menu Tools -> Adblock -> preferences -> adblock options -> import filters and select the text file you saved to your disk. It will ask if you want to wipe out the old list... just click cancel and it will append it (doesn't really matter). Now you can delete the original text file you saved on your disk because adblock stored it elsewhere.

have fun with no ads on the internet and no pop ups

Have firefox.
Don't have the extension because I don't need it. I don't do much browsing. If I start to see ads I'll get it, but thanks for posting the info.

Text deleted because I missed the posts previous to it.

I want orange juice... and sleep.

What, no vodka with that orange juice?

Nope... but oh well, my desire for orange juice diminished shortly after it appeared. Wow, juice, haven't had any in a long time, unless wine counts as a juice.

i don't have this "flashing ad" problem, but then i've always used an email thingy - recently changed to mozilla thunderbird from outlook express (cos someone i trust told me to). don't know if this is useful, interesting, or even relevant. but it's all pooters, anyway...

The only ads I seem to have trouble with since the invention of the popup blocker are the ones that:

A) scroll across the page
B) seem to appear out of nowhere, but actually come from Macromedia Flash banners when you roll your mouse over them
C) take up half the screen and flash in bright colors
D) play any type of sound while I have my studio monitors active

That means that Google had done half the espionage work for the government. All the NSA has to do is set up a SQL server to document mail with certain keywords for their project Echelon and have a copy sent to an FBI SQL server foir their project Carnivore.

This is an informative thread. Looks like I won't respond to Gmail accounts anymore.

I am starting to dislike Google.