Lauren WeinsteinJul 17, 2025

WARNING: #GOOGLE IS TRYING TO TRICK YOU INTO USING GEMINI AI AND FEEDING GEMINI YOUR DATA IN GMAIL AND OTHER APPS!

What Google is now doing should be ILLEGAL. PERIOD. For the first time I can recall in history of using Gmail, it just now popped a modal dialogue box -- DEMANDING that I choose whether or not I wanted "Smart Features" turned on -- which when you read the verbiage mostly means goddamned Gemini AI AND if you enable this you're giving Google permission to use your data to "improve" this horrifically invasive, inept, and misinformation spewing tech that steals data from websites for its own use without permission of those sites. DON'T LET IT SUCK IN YOUR EMAIL AS WELL!

There was no way I could find to exit the modal window without choosing YES or NO, which means my existing selection to NOT use Gmail Smart Features (long my preference) was NOT being honored. After saying NO to this disgusting query by Google, I was pushed to ANOTHER page where I was forced to choose again about "smart features" in "other" Google apps. I chose NO again and finally was permitted to escape this trap.

Note that while you can fairly easily check to make sure "smart features" are turned off in Gmail settings, I offhand don't have a clue as to how to find the similar settings in other Google apps that may have been affected by this absolutely disrespectful forced dialogue, as Google keeps trying to ram Gemini AI down our throats.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Google has become a DISGRACE.

#Google #Gmail #Gemini #AI

Show threadLauren WeinsteinJul 17, 2025
I believe I've found the new Gemini-centric "smart features" controls in Gmail, that also seem to include the "other apps" setting as well. If you click the gear, then All Settings, then scroll WAY DOWN in the General tab, there's a "Manage Workspace smart feature settings" bubble. If you click that, you'll see a pair of settings that appear to represent your choices during the forced dialogue modal popup I discussed in the original post on this thread. I can't be 100% sure, but that's how it appears to me currently. My recommendation: Make sure they are both OFF!
Show threadJWcph, Radicalized By DecencyJul 17, 2025

@lauren Why would you ever trust them to honor any of your settings though? As you said they already overrode them to get to this & also their #AI is stealing content everywhere else.

The only option is to get the everloving fuck out of the #Google ecosystem & then just hope they can't get to you in other ways, which they probably can but don't obey in advance. #Resistance is its own reward & also might actually work eventually. Not resisting definitely won't.

Show threadLauren WeinsteinJul 17, 2025
@jwcph My concern is with ordinary users who as a practical matter have to use these systems and do not have the technical background for workaround hacks. My goal is finding ways to convince -- or force through legislation -- firms like Google to do the right thing for their billions of users. Because the reality is most users ARE going to keep using these systems, because the time and confusion associated with switching is entirely out of scope for most. Most people can just barely use these systems and devices well enough to get crucial things done, making things harder for them by disrupting what they've finally learned is not a viable solution for the vast majority.
Show threadJWcph, Radicalized By DecencyJul 17, 2025

@lauren Well, that's true, but also not. Switching email, for example, is about as easy as getting a Gmail account in the first place - several services have "import from Gmail" as a default offering.

It just *feels* like it's a huge deal - like you're going to mess something up. You almost certainly won't but *you don't have to delete your Gmail to switch*! Leave it on for a bit while using your new email, until the dread feeling goes away.

People need to be told this, again & again.

Show threadMark T. TomczakJul 17, 2025

@jwcph @lauren Authentication and online identity are too fundamentally tied to email to make this a practical suggestion for most users.

If I switch my email providers right now, I literally cannot pay my mortgage.

Show threadLauren Weinstein
@mark @jwcph Exactly. I hear frequently from people cut off from various institutions because of failed email address changes, even when they tried keeping the old address around for a while. It's a terrible risk these days.
Jul 17, 2025 at 3:32pmWeb
Show threadslashJul 17, 2025

@lauren @mark @jwcph

Back in the day, I was on dial-up. And changing ISPs meant a new email address. I then discovered that domain registrars supplied "email forwarders"; buy a domain and get up to 300 addresses in that domain, forwarded to wherever you were. So I could now have a fixed email address, and a change of ISP was a simple matter of changing the forwarding destination.

At that time, a .us address was $5/year. This is still relatively cheap, and not that hard to set up.

Show threadLauren WeinsteinJul 17, 2025
@agreeable_landfall @mark @jwcph Except that .us addresses are widely blocked en masse as spam sources. And when those forwarders go out of business or otherwise get shut down you're cooked.
Show threadslashJul 17, 2025

@lauren @mark @jwcph .US was simply what *I* chose. Pick .com or .ai if you prefer. Most people on the fedi aren't eligible for a .us domain anyway.

Since the "forwarder" is a domain registrar, simply pick one that's been in business for a long time. I hear DigiCert has a few years under its belt.

Cooked? You *own* that domain. Move your domain to a different registrar. If your registrar goes belly-up, choose again. Mail servers will retry delivery for days, so you won't lose mail.

Show threadLauren WeinsteinJul 17, 2025
@agreeable_landfall @mark @jwcph Point is most people don't register their own domains and the associated hassle. And never, ever, depend on retry counts. I know of major mail systems that will stop retrying after a single failure. Seriously.
Show threadMark T. TomczakJul 17, 2025

@agreeable_landfall @lauren @jwcph Most people are not equipped to own a domain, especially if we're talking the Venn diagram of people who would be heavily disrupted if they changed their email address.

Worth remembering: most users are in the category "I write all my passwords in this notebook I keep in an easy-to-steal place on my desk."

(Actually, I take that back. most users are in the category "I use one password for everything; who is organized enough to keep track of more than one?").

Show threadslashJul 17, 2025

@mark @lauren @jwcph I thought I had been pretty clear that my suggestions were NOT for 'most people'. If there was some confusion, I apologize.

You have to sign up with a registrar. Purchase a domain (prices vary by domain). Use their web interface to link "[email protected]" with "[email protected]". And....you're done. You now have a permanent email address, which will persist no matter where you move your real email service.