Google Scanning the Content of Telus.net Emails

[brbradbury]

Last year when my telus.net email accounts were migrated to the Google I thought we were told that Google would not be scanning the content of telus.net emails and that the Telus Terms of Service would continue to govern my telus.net email accounts.

Today I received an email to my telus.net email account from Google advising that they were scanning the content of all of my telus.net emails so that they could helpfully create entries in a Google calendar that I have never used and never activated.

Is anyone aware of documents available from Telus that outline what Google is permitted to do with all of the information Google is obtaining from scanning all of my telus.net emails.  Is this a change in Telus policy or did I misunderstand the explanations provided by Telus during the migration process.

[FuzzyLogic]

There is some information here (under the section About our partnership with Google):

Frequently asked questions: TELUS email powered by Google | TELUS Support

Is it possible you have your Telus email address as your recovery email address for a GMail account? Possibly you are getting this notification for that account. Google sends security alerts to the recovery address.

Aside from my Telus email I don't have any accounts with Google and have never seen a message like you mention.

[brbradbury]

Thank you for your reply.  Unfortunately the link you provided contains the same platitudes Telus always falls back upon when addressing privacy concerns.  There are no specific comments from Telus concerning the privacy of email communications governed by their Terms of Service.

I can confirm that the email I received from Google had nothing to do with any other Gmail account and strictly dealt with the content of an email sent only to my telus.net email account.

[FuzzyLogic · Accepted solution]

I believe that Telus is using Google's enterprise services which are different than the consumer GMail. It's difficult to find clear information on what is and isn't happening with privacy and email. Here is the Google information on Privacy for enterprise data:

What kind of data scanning or indexing of end-user data is done?

Google Cloud does not scan your data or email in Google Workspace Services for advertising purposes. Our automated systems scan and index your data to provide you with your services and to protect your data, such as to perform spam and malware detection, to sort email for features like Priority Inbox and to return fast, powerful search results when users search for information in their accounts. The situation is different for our free offerings and the consumer space. For information on our free consumer products, be sure to check Google's Privacy and Terms page for more consumer tools and information relating to consumer privacy.

More info here:

Privacy - Google Cloud Help

The only public document I could find relating to this is a privacy impact assessment issued by Ryerson University as part of their evaluation of GMail as an alternate to their in house RMail:

RyersonPIA-EmailandCollaboration.pdf

I hope that helps.

[brbradbury]

This information has been very helpful and I believe it explains what happened within my telus.net account.  It also allays some of my concerns regarding Telus' subcontracting of its email services to Google.

Thank you for your assistance with this matter.