[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] [ PFIR ] Gemini AI may already be enabled by default in your Gmail -- Google says it will share with law enforcement, etc. I DO NOT TRUST GOOGLE.

Mon Jan 19 15:09:41 PST 2026

Let me make a pitch for zero knowledge.   No, not the sgt Schultz “I know
nooothing!”

Zero knowledge services are like:

Protonmail - can be set up so you have a password to your account, and a
second password to decrypt the content of your messages. This sadly is no
longer the default because people are too lazy and have many have chosen to
use one password. Their initial pitch said interpol (they are based in
Switzerland) could confiscate all their servers but would not be able to
read your messages because only the user has the second password.

Signal - only the sender and receiver (nobody at signal) can read your
messages. That’s why the us govt approved its use by senators and
congressional reps.

These and other services that have been independently audited by
professionals are among the ones where the provider (such as Google) in
theory do not read your stuff. A court order probably will open the door,
but Proton is based in Switzerland, so it’s one more step removed.

Living in a modern world is full of trade offs. On one extreme you can take
yourself entirely off the grid, so to speak, so nobody knows your finances
or how you spend your money - but that also means you will never create a
credit score to take out a loan.  Take you pick.

I've turned off the ai parts of gmail, disabled apple intelligence, the
obvious stuff.  Will need to turn off more stuff soon, I'm sure.

Good luck to all,

On Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 11:38 AM Robert Primak via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us>
wrote:

> No. Google has never said they would not comply with legitimate requests
> from law enforcement. And they have always reported any serious threats to
> other users or to the public to law enforcement. This new policy is really
> nothing new in that regard.
>
> Does anyone in this thread have any hard evidence that Google is doing
> anything improper with user data? If not, maybe we should not tempt Google
> to initiate legal actions against us for saying things we cannot support.
>
> I thought LCTG was supposed to be a non-political technology user group.
>
> -- Bob Primak
>
>
> On Saturday, January 17, 2026 at 11:07:38 AM EST, OLGA P GUTTAG via LCTG <
> lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:
>
>
> Though Google had our info since we started using their products, their
> stated policy was to protect any information they had about us from
> outsiders, including the govt. Now, as they happily cooperate with the
> current administration, if Trump decides to, say, deport all
> Chinese-Americans and needs to find some reason, getting all email/docs for
> these people from Google is pretty much guaranteed.
>
> So what is different now is Google’s change in how they protect our info.
>
> Olga
>
> On Jan 17, 2026, at 10:39 AM, Adam Broun <abroun at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Google has always had access to Gmail, Docs etc in order to sell
> advertising.  And they’ve always been good at searching/indexing it.  So
> what's different now?
>
>
>
> On Jan 17, 2026, at 09:47, Stan Rose via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:
>
> If it's Gemini you want to avoid, then you will have to stop using SIRI
> because Apple has announced they will partner will Google to use Gemini in
> Siri.
>
>
> https://www.macrumors.com/2026/01/13/google-gemini-siri-capabilities-report/
>
>
> Stan
> stan_rose at alum.mit.edu
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 16, 2026 at 11:13 PM OLGA P GUTTAG via LCTG <
> lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:
>
> Lauren has also advised users to stay away from Google docs, since that is
> the next place they will start pushing Gemini. Sounds like moving
> everything away from Google is in my near future - SIGH.
>
> Olga
>
>
>
> > On Jan 16, 2026, at 10:26 PM, Drew King 65 via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us>
> wrote:
> >
> > I read about this last week. I've already gone into Gmail and turned
> everything off but thanks for telling everybody. I was going to send out a
> link that had instructions but your instructions are correct.
> >
> > I'm in the process of getting off gmail. I already have a new posting
> company for my email I just need to move the last month's worth of mail
> over to my new hosting company and update my DNS I plan on getting this
> done before the end of the month.
> >
> > Bye bye Gmail for me.
> >
> > I'm also moving towards encrypting all of my inbound mail on the mail
> server so even the new hosting company and Google can't read my mail .
> >
> > As far as Gemini is concerned I limit my use of it to questions
> regarding Google products mostly android.
> >
> >
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