Google will change rule that let apps scrape your Gmail inbox

Google is finally changing the rules that previously allowed developers to scan Gmail users' inboxes.

The company announced a series of new guidelines for developers whose apps plug into Gmail, which will severely limit the type of data developers can access. The changes were announced as part of a series of privacy updates that came after Google confirmed a bug in Google+ had exposed the data of hundreds of thousands of users.

Under Gmail's new rules, third-party apps will no longer be able to scan users' inboxes for content scraped for advertising or market research purposes. (Google itself announced that it would stop scanning users' email accounts for ad targeting purposes last June.) Read more...