Google confirmed that its Gmail users should not expect privacy while sending emails through the service. Google has recently filed a brief in federal court, saying that Internet users can’t be surprised if their letters are processed by the recipient’s email provider during delivery.

The legal brief admits that a person indeed has not legitimate expectation of privacy in data he or she voluntarily turns over to intermediaries. The complaint argues that, because of Google’s silence, people don’t consent to Google reading the content of emails. It also asserts that the company is violating state and federal wiretap legislation because it combs through emails in order to help with targeted advertising.

The motion of the search giant to dismiss repeatedly references how the process is automated. The company also suggests that users are aware, and explains that if the way it accesses emails is changed, it might criminalize such services as spam filtering and search.

Google argues that plaintiffs’ claims should be rejected because they would lead to anomalous results with far-ranging consequences beyond the allegations in the complaint. The theory saying that any scanning of email content by ECS providers is against the law would effectively criminalize practices representing an everyday aspect of using electronic mail. Google claims that plaintiffs’ attempt to carve out spam filtering and virus detection from their claims would underscore the fact that the above mentioned theory of liability otherwise encompasses the common services users normally depend on.

The case in question will be heard on 5 September in a San Francisco District Court by judge Luck H Koh. In the meantime, John M Simpson (Consumer Watchdog’s privacy project director) believes that users should take Google at its word and just not use Gmail if they care about their email correspondents’ privacy. He suggested that Google’s brief was using a wrong-headed analogy and compared sending an email with giving a letter to the Post Office. A person expects the Post Office to deliver the letter based on the address written on the envelope, rather than expecting the mail carrier to open the letter and read it. No more comments were provided by Google, which means that Gmail users were officially warned about the privacy issue.