(the link is not paid for, nor does it go to, McAfee, it's malware)
Can't wait to fully migrate to Proton.
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this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
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Why are there ads in Gmail what is this? I have never seen ads in my Gmail app
They only show if you have categories enabled, and then only on the Promotions category.
Just realized you're right. They show in all the tabs other than Inbox. Weak.
It made me so mad when they appeared in updates. I don’t use categories anymore and went full inbox zero.
Honestly it still would have been malware if it was actually McAfee.
There are ads in your gmail?
Yes, even though I pay for Google One (sucker, I know).
My Google Workspace email doesn't have ads.
That's weird, on android Gmail I don't get any, even when searching.
Yeah same. I have free personal Gmail and everything.
Go to promotions, they're all in there.
I have some stuff that falls into promotions, so I check it occasionally.
I don't have promotions, I must have removed that one
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Gmail serves you ads? Holy shit...
Proton slaps. Strongly recommend. And they keep giving benefits every year for loyalty like more free cloud storage space.
I'm waiting for proper Linux support to drop before fully switching.
Proton Drive is unfortunately useless to me right now, and I get no calendar outside of the web app and Android app.
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Unfortunately, just like any private company, it can be bought or sold or just have new owners after the old ones die.
As a company, those great things they do for consumers can change on a whim, especially with new management and sudden need for revenue.
I mean, I remember people saying similar things about Gmail when it was invite only and had 1gb of storage. "It's the best, why would you use anything else?"
All this time later, not feeling those same things so much, you know?
Proton’s services have been fully open source and regularly audited for years now. Until an audit reveals something or they start locking things down, they are a great option. You shouldn’t refuse to use a service because they might change their mind one day. Unless you expect everyone to roll their own everything.
Gmail was never open source. It was just very ahead of its time with its integrations/offerings.
You shouldn’t refuse to use a service because they might change their mind one day.
Sadly, when it comes to privacy, yes you should. Because privacy today does not equal privacy tomorrow. You can't magic all your data out of their systems if things change. That's the issue. I can take their privacy promises today, but if those promises can be changed on a whim by new owners... what good is that privacy promise? It isn't.
Proton sells privacy. A privacy that can be rescinded.
Unless you expect everyone to roll their own everything.
I know it's kind of an elitist attitude, but yeah, I fucking do. If they're really concerned about their privacy.
Ed Snowden didn't roll up to Glenn Greenwald and go "Yeah, just use any off-the-shelf messaging service that says its private." No, he made Greenwald roll up his own.
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how does that even make it through google's qa?
thunderbird and k9 + a monthly donation to thunderbird rule :)
The content of the ads doesn't matter as long as they're paying for ads ;)
If you use Gmail badly this it what happens.
I feel like this is more on the user than on the app. Haven't ever seen anything like this.
It's the default Gmail layout, the one your average Joe who might seriously click on this would use.
If you remove your Promotions tab, it doesn't serve you ads.
Exactly my point though.
If you're using the default settings for anything you're not going to have as good a time as spending a few minutes removing the crap.
It's the same whether it's Windows, Linux, Apple or whatever - the default is generally crap/annoying and you need to configure it.
Yeah no, applications need to be secure by default. Blaming the user does nothing to actually improve the security posture anywhere. The security posture of the app needs to be specifically designed with the least-skilled users in mind because they are also the most vulnerable to this type of problem. Google meanwhile is full of talented engineers who are experts at identifying and combatting this type of malware scam.
To look at it another way, what google is actually doing here is intentionally exposing their users to malware in order to take a cut in the form of advertising revenue.
Remove the "Promotions" tab. Ads are GONE!
As much as I hate Google and corporations altogether, maybe read the friggin' manual from time to time?
The problem here is they're serving literal malware in their client, and the categorized view is the default, which the average person will use.
I've switched to K9 mail for that account, doesn't matter what the Gmail client does anymore.
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Ok thank you for this. I didn't even know you could add and remove categories
AFAIK ads can be served in any category now. They were limited to promotions for a very long time. I turned off all categories a year or two ago when ads starting showing up in Updates.
What’s proton?
Good question!
It's a privacy and security-focused productivity suite, mostly known for their Proton Mail product.
They don't sell your data, they're mostly open-sourced and get audited frequently.
Hmm interesting, I’ve been wanting to move away from outlook, I may need to look into this.
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