PRIVACY AND LICENSE POLICY ANALYSIS

Privacy and License Policy Analysis

Privacy and License Policy Analysis

Gmail Inc. is launching a salvo against Facebook Inc., saying it will no longer allow the social network to grab information about Gmail users' social and professional contacts in Gmail, Gmail's email service. Gmail has always allowed Gmail users to transfer data, including their contacts, to other websites. Until now, new Facebook users could find out if their contacts on Gmail furthermore had Facebook anecdotes, easily by typing in their Gmail user title and password as part of the Facebook signup process. That Gmail policy has helped Facebook grow because it helped new users instantly create a network of friends on the site. Unlike Gmail, Facebook doesn't allow its users to export their contacts data to other websites. Gmail does not permit users to drive or obtain executable documents or archives containing executable documents if it identifies the document elongation as one used for executable documents or archives

With Gmail becoming more and more interested in social networking and internally developing a competitor to Facebook, people familiar with the matter have said, it has called on Facebook to provide more access to user information. Gmail Chief Executive Eric Schmidt recently said Gmail hoped to get access to Facebook users' contact lists so that people can expand their social network on Gmail, though he added there were alternatives if Facebook didn't comply. Facebook hasn't, leading Gmail to change its position this week. Gmail no longer allows Facebook to help users automatically export their Gmail contacts data as long Facebook continues to block Gmail from gaining the same access to Facebook contacts data with users' permission.

A Gmail spokesman said in a statement that its policy change reflects "the fact that users often aren't aware that once they have imported their contacts into sites like Facebook they are effectively trapped. "We hope that reciprocity will be an significant step towards conceiving a world of factual facts and figures liberation—and that this move will encourage other websites to allow users to automate the trade goods of their contacts as well," the representative continued.

Gmail users can always export their contacts from Gmail and other Gmail services to their computers in a machine-readable format, the spokesman said. Once they have finished that, they can then trade those associates to Facebook. AFacebook representative declined to comment. Gmail's move, reported earlier by TechCrunch, can be seen as largely symbolic. It comes six years after Facebook's launch and the social networking location now has more than 500 million users, many of whom before exported their Gmail associates registers to Facebook.

In addition to competing on the social-networking front, Gmail and Facebook are expected to compete more heavily in the race to sell so-called display ads online. Many of the most well liked submissions, or "apps," on the social-networking location Facebook Inc. have been transmitting recognising information—in effect, supplying access to people's titles and, in some situations, their friends' titles—to dozens of advocating and Internet following businesses, a Wall road periodical ...