A Ghost Prepares Responses to My eMails (???)
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
Austin, Texas
September 25, 2018 7:05pm CST
Here's something new and different. I recently received a personal and private eMail communication from a friend via my Gmail. At the end of the message, 3 suggested responses popped up.
There were 3 buttons about the size of the piece of paper you find in a fortune cookie with a response typed on the button just like the fortune on a fortune cookie.
I clicked on one of the buttons just to see how it worked. As I clicked on the “canned response” and hit the send button the thought occurred to me:
Is there a ghost reading my eMail? How did “IT” whatever it is KNOW to suggest those 3 responses? Who or what else read that eMail message besides me?
Google recently revamped its mail system. I don't remember clicking any buttons to change the way my mail messages are handled.
Do you receive private and personal eMails and have suggested ready-made responses prepared so that all you have to do is click the button and send?
Doesn't that feel kind of creepy?
10 people like this
10 responses
@xander6464 (40884)
• Wapello, Iowa
26 Sep 18
Gmail has been doing that for quite a while. I don't want to alarm anyone, but the fact that other services don't acknowledge it the way Gmail does with the canned responses doesn't mean that they aren't also reading your mail...Well, that sounds a little sinister. The truth is that a very smart computer program is reading them...And the only way to escape it is to go back to snail mail...though the CIA has the technology to read folded sheets inside sealed envelopes if they want to so that leaves in-person communication but with cameras and microphones everywhere, including Space, that isn't so safe, either, because even in the middle of nowhere or inside your own home, you're still being watched. And of course, they've already admitted that they listen to your phone conversations whenever they feel like it. So, if you want privacy, you really don't have many options.
3 people like this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
26 Sep 18
For sure. Orwell's 1984 environment was probably happening long before 1984.
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
27 Sep 18
@xander6464 - There was a guy who claimed that he developed or was developing a private eMail system because he believed that even though you were using a computer you should still be able to "whisper in someone's ear" without everybody else hearing. I understood what he was saying but I wonder if he ever succeeded in developing such a system.
1 person likes this
@xander6464 (40884)
• Wapello, Iowa
26 Sep 18
@cmoneyspinner It was. Of course, the technology has been getting better so it hasn't always been this bad. In 1955, for example, you could still go into the woods and unless someone had a reason to spy on you and followed you, you could still have a private conversation.
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
2 Oct 18
Yeah. I'm slow but I catch on eventually. 
I was in my eMail Settings checking for something else and I noticed the feature. When they upgraded they automatically turned it on. They shouldn't do that! It scares silly me like me. 
I was in my eMail Settings checking for something else and I noticed the feature. When they upgraded they automatically turned it on. They shouldn't do that! It scares silly me like me. 1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (458212)
• Switzerland
3 Oct 18
@cmoneyspinner I fully agree with you, they should not turn features on when they do upgrades. The first thing I did when they upgraded was to check all the settings... I do not trust those big companies.
1 person likes this
@Mavic123456 (21898)
• Thailand
26 Sep 18
When my friend got panicky about gmail I just brushed it off because she is always panicky to changes, but now I am beginning to see her point.
1 person likes this
@Mavic123456 (21898)
• Thailand
27 Sep 18
@cmoneyspinner yes, I told her about this discussion also.
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
26 Sep 18
As I tell my kids. "Yes I'm paranoid. I earned my right to be!" 
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
26 Sep 18
Do you mean messenger in Facebook?
1 person likes this
@cintol (11261)
• United States
26 Sep 18
@cmoneyspinner Yes and my text messages on my phone.
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
26 Sep 18
It feels creepy. But my eMails don't reveal an awful lot about me so I could raise the roof and argue that my privacy is being invaded. But since the eMail wasn't that big of a deal I went "smeh!"
1 person likes this
@Courage7 (19633)
• United States
26 Sep 18
@cmoneyspinner Yeah mine are boring as heck lol
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
26 Sep 18
"A quick chapter"? What does that mean? 
1 person likes this
@theend (2778)
• Gifu, Japan
27 Sep 18
@cmoneyspinner It helps you to send mail faster.
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
26 Sep 18
Talking via eMail is my primary method of communicating. I've been using eMail since they gave us access to an eMail system at one of my jobs. That was back in the 80s. The system was created by AT&T.
