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Gmail is more promise than threat

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Gmail

Rupert Goodwins ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 21 Apr 2004 10:20 BST

The only thing that makes a message spam is that it's been sent to lots of people who didn't want it -- something that's hard to spot if you can't look at lots of inboxes at once. Google is very, very good at finding patterns in large datasets. Gmail will be able to look back in time across millions of inboxes, giving it an unparalleled opportunity to characterise spam and spammers in multiple dimensions. Of course, we can't tell until the system's in use by millions whether things will work out like this, but once again Google has earned the benefit of the doubt. Spam is email's biggest security problem today, and it has the chance of tackling it head-on.

Which is not to say Gmail couldn't go further. Do you know how to encrypt your emails -- and how to make sure your recipients can read them afterwards? It's never been painless, but it may become necessary. At first glance, it would look as if encrypted emails would be the death of Gmail: even smart robots can't scan pseudorandom binary, so there goes the revenue stream.

But if Gmail offered the encryption itself over a secure link, then this is no longer a problem. It could store the emails in clear on its own system, en- or decrypting them as they leave or enter. It could offer the cryptographic engine as a web service for other clients, other ISPs. It may have to -- if encryption outside its control becomes normal, then the service is finished.

All this is in the future. If Gmail deals with its critics coolly, promptly and civilly, and provides a service that matches its promises and maintains its policy of "users first", it will deserve all the success it can handle.