Shocking: Millions of users' Gmail may be being read

Many users often ignore requests for permission to read emails from third-party applications.

Third-party app developers have been able to read emails from millions of Gmail users for some time, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

Gmail's access settings could allow data companies and app developers to see people's emails, even private details, including recipient addresses, timestamps, and the entire message content.

While third-party applications need to gain user consent for access, this is not necessarily a trust barrier to making emails more secure.

In its response, Google asserted that it only provides data to certified third-party developers with explicit user consent.

However, the US technology company also admitted that an email application would have access to users' Gmail but did not clarify whether the developers were reading emails or not.

Additionally, Google employees can also read users' emails, but only in "very specific cases where users give permission, or in cases where it serves security purposes, such as to figure out the cause of a bug," the company told WSJ.

Google's response is arguably unsatisfactory as it's clear that there are many apps that have deep access to user data, not just email apps.

The Verge warns that if you've ever seen a request to "read, send, delete, and manage mail" when linking your Gmail account to an app, you may have given that app permission to read your own emails.

This situation is reminiscent of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, when social media giant Facebook was criticized for being too negligent in handing over users' personal data to third parties for misuse.

While there's no evidence that third-party Gmail add-on developers have misused data, the apps' deep access seems to have crossed a privacy line.