Third Party Gmail Apps Have Full Access to Your Email

“Remember that “cool” free Gmail app you installed years ago and then forgot about? It probably still has access to your email, and actual humans might be sifting through them.”

We have a problem we’ve been talking about for a while: free applications that we users give permissions to and then forget about. These apps have full access to your email, and they’re taking advantage.

One of these third party app servers is: One of those companies is Return Path Inc., which collects data for marketers by scanning the inboxes of more than two million people who have signed up for one of the free apps in Return Pathʼs partner network using a Gmail, Microsoft Corp. or Yahoo email address. Computers normally do the scanning, analyzing about 100 million emails a day. At one point about two years ago, Return Path employees read about 8,000 unredacted emails to help train the companyʼs software, people familiar with the episode say.

Creepy, right? And that’s just one example MacMillan gives.

Think carefully the next time a “free” application asks for access to your Gmail account, or any email account for that matter. And if you haven’t scrolled through Google’s list of Apps with access to your account lately, you should. Immediately.

It’s very ironic that I found this article after I had already been in preparation to write another article with the same deference in mind. I will be posting that article later this week. It is placed in line with other more important issues. Our Money Connection blog has gotten very crowded with issues that must be addressed for our readers. Continue to follow us each day and stay updated on these issues.