Google new terms and conditions

[Margaret N]

Like many others I have had an email from Google today - Changes to Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service

Can someone please tell me what implications this will have on users of Google and Gmail? Is our work safe and especially our Gmail? There is a load of jargon included but it is hard to make sense of for me.

How do I download all my email to my HD without opening each one and copying it to Word. So far only the links have downloaded and that is not much use if I change from Gmail. I am just worried about security.

[Sunny Kate]

Margaret, I read through the new terms and conditions and don't have any concerns with it as I understand it.
I use Gmail for 95% of my emails and Google Talk and I don't expect there to be any change in security. There were lots of different sub headings to read and I admit I skimmed through some of these but I think there are different levels of security you can select and manage for different areas eg. with the dashboard.

If I want to save some mail from Gmail I have an email address with my ISP so I send whatever I want to keep to myself on my computer at the ISP address.

[Elaine ..Spain]

How do I download all my email to my HD without opening each one and copying it to Word. So far only the links have downloaded and that is not much use if I change from Gmail. I am just worried about security.

I use both Windows Live and Mozilla Thunderbird on my computer (for different email addresses) and download and read all my emails that way, rather than accessing them and leaving them on the web.
You really need to decide, do you want to access/read/store emails on the web or do you want to access/read/store emails on your computer. If you choose the latter you can still access and read via the web, but have it set up to download to your computer for permanent storage. Of course that does mean that if you are going to delete the emails from the web then you must make sure you have backed up what is on your computer!

As to the implications of the change in Google Privacy Policy - haven't read it yet!