Google Apologizes For Terrible April Fools’ Day Prank; Huffington Post, 4/1/16

Damon Beres, Huffington Post; Google Apologizes For Terrible April Fools’ Day Prank:

"Whatever your thoughts on the joke, it’s a good reminder that Gmail — free as it might be — isn’t a public service. It’s a privately owned product subject to the impulses of corporate enterprise. And yes, many of us are accustomed to our entire lives revolving around it...

At the time, cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier raised a couple of important points to The Huffington Post.

“You should be concerned that Facebook can without any due process kick you off their network. You should be concerned that Gmail can lock you out of your email. You should be concerned that the U.S. government can spy on anyone,” Schneier said.

“All of these things can happen without knowledge or consent. We are giving these companies an enormous amount of power over our digital selves and therefore our lives,” he added.

The postal service is obligated to deliver your mail. Google is not obligated to provide you a free email service, nor an email service that’s free from bad April Fool’s Day pranks.

That’s a sobering thought, considering how many of us rely on it. As of February, it’s estimated that 1 billion people use Gmail worldwide."