I can't imagine it's illegal, and even if it was when you wrote the post, they can (like virtually every web service provider, including Flickr via Yahoo's ToS) change the terms and conditions whenever they like.

"Although we may attempt to notify you via your Gmail address when major changes are made, you should visit this page periodically to review the terms. Google may, in its sole discretion, modify or revise these terms and conditions and policies at any time, and you agree to be bound by such modifications or revisions. If you do not accept and abide by this Agreement, you may not use the Gmail service"

The same applies to Google Talk.

Additionally, the first time you actively log in to Gmail after the Talk features have been activated it displays a full screen explaining what it is, and the option to turn off message logging, it's not just buried in the options screen; and again, when you sign in with the enabled version of the proper desktop Talk client it asks you.

I can't imagine that most IM companies _don't_ store all user communication for at least a period of time, say 90 days after transmission.

How could it possibly be more illegal than archiving all your mail? It says it's illegal "without the consent of all parties to the communication"... seems that if you accept the default (they make you choose when you first get chat) then you're consenting. Case closed.

The reason they're keeping it is obviously so you can search it. I like having searchable IM logs, a LOT, but I keep them on my own personal machine.

Huh. I distinctly remember turning the archives ON when I allowed Gtalk into my Gmail. Was that not the case for all users?

Here's another thought. I may consent to recording my chats but what if I am chatting with you and you don't want your part of the conversation recorded. Did I get your consent to record what you are chatting to me? Nope. And can you tell I am recording it. No again.

So, if I am chatting with you maybe it's illegal for me to allow my system (Google or otherwise) to record your part of the conversation, since no one asked you for permission.

By the way, AOL also stores all of your AIM convos. It's in the the user agreement.

It's hilarious how every liberal in the Bay Area suddenly becomes a legal expert the instant they perceive an issue they hope they might be able to bash the government with. Grow up please.

Posting a comment telling the blogger to grow up...now THAT'S mature. Guess you're the type of person that LOVES it when the government intercepts your communication. Must make you feel important.

I definitely had to turn archiving on. In fact, I got asked three times. Once by the GTalk app, once by GMail at home, and once again by GMail at work. Still, they are obviously playing with it, so maybe they turned it on for some people and not for others. They probably quickly realized it was a bad idea to turn it on by default if they tried it.

Mine was turned off by default, so I didn't think much about it at the time.

I am still ambivalent on the whole privacy thing. I think privacy is important, but I do believe that the whole privacy debate is a tad over-rated.

I turned mine off on the splash screen, but I still have to choose "off the record" for each chat session (I guess that's to say I don't want the other person recording it?)

1) How does this differ from everyone who records your chats with iChat and then backs them up to .Mac? Or who copy and pastes from a chat window and then emails then to someone with hotmail? It's hardly a new threat.

2) Google does MORE than iChat, because you can go off the record with me in GTalk, but in iChat, I can record the entire chat regardless of what you want.

3) I can clearly remember my father not wanting to get a credit card so that the government couldn't track his purchases. Now, of course, he has a credit card, and every Law and Order has the government looking at credit card records. Convenience sometimes trumps privacy.

Do those of you freaking out over the 'privacy' issue really have anything that important to hide? It really is simple - if you aren't doing anything wrong you have nothing to fear as any competent lawyer will be able to clear you, and if you are doing things you shouldn't... well, grow up and be a big criminal and deal with it. Get smarter people, not whinier. There are ALWAYS was around these things, as an IT security pro I know this. If you truly want to protect these privacy freedooms you are so despondent about, then get your lazy asses educated on how to protect yourself and quit waiting for someone who is providing a service to take the time to do it for you. It isn't in their interest, it is in yours - so take care of yourself and quit acting like spoiled children!

I second kathryn's comment: I was explicitly asked by google just a few days ago if I wanted this feature to be turned on or off:

Maybe those who see this feature enabled or disabled by "default" did agree to something else, where archiving conversations was part of a whole eula-options-"packet"?

As mentioned, most IM services store chat sessions. I think with recent developments regarding wiretapping and Google China, this issue with GoogleTalk has reached a newsworthy convergence point. It really isn't that new, but it's good to be informed about it.

So, would you prefer an option to always go off the record? I'm not sure how that would work.

We've been using the Talk-in-Gmail feature for a long time internally and I've come to rely on searching past chats. I'd never want to go back to the usual IM paradigm, where you have to take an extra step to enable logging.

I presume Google's lawyers scrutinized this part of the app very carefully, so I doubt it's blatantly illegal.

Maybe not blatantly, maybe only flagrantly? ;-)

The way I'm picturing it working is: it works the same way as when you click "Off the record" except permanently, on all conversations.

If you agree to the google privacy policy you are agreeing to blanket recording of data: "When you use Google services, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. " (from http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html ) That's pretty broad license...