June 23rd, 2007
Live in Germany? You might want to create backups of your Gmail
It looks like Google is preparing for the worst case scenario — shutting down Gmail due to German laws standing in the way. Philipp Lenssen has the scoop on a ruling that prevents Google, in an attempt to combat terrorism, from storing user data unless there is sufficient personal information associated with the account. If they do go down the path of closing Gmail (and prevent anybody from logging in), Jens Minor says they might as well close up shop completely as their reputation and trust will have all but vanished in that country.
“If Google will indeed stop their email service in the sense that no one will be able to access their mails anymore, they might as well close all local subsidiaries, and Mountain View can go ahead and forget this market – because they’d destroy all user trust from one day to another.”
It will be interesting to see if Google can influence the German government into taking less drastic measures. I wonder if the threat Google is making will generate sufficient resistance to have politicians in Germany look over their newly passed law?
Garett Rogers is employed as a programmer for iQmetrix, which specializes in retail management software for the wireless industry.
See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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