Judge tears apart Republican lawsuit alleging bias in Gmail spam filter
Judge tears apart Republican lawsuit alleging bias in Gmail spam filter
Gmail isn't a common carrier and is protected by Section 230, judge rules.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/1898981
Archived version: https://archive.ph/sfxWW
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20230825182626/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/08/judge-tears-apart-republican-lawsuit-alleging-bias-in-gmail-spam-filter/
Spam filters are also built with users in mind.
If users are hitting the spam button, that's people signaling that the email is shit.
If people are telling them to shut up, that's not bias, that's "your words are garbage to GTFO"
Sent an email to my local representative looking to improve things locally. No response, but I was signed up for several newsletters and campaign donation lists after that. Nearly as upsetting as the endless torrent of advertisements from the vet that put down my dog. No, I’m not in the market for heart worm medication anymore. Fuck that vet, and fuck my local rep.
Also, spam filters are trained by user response. Guess what personality type/computer education level is more likely to hit “REPORT SPAM” button versus the more technologically sophisticated and patient methods of deleting an email, unsubscribing, or filtering out, and how that may relate to their political party.
unsubscribing
Great way to show an e-mail spammer that the address works and is monitored by a human. Standard IT guidance for at least two decades has been to NOT use unsubscribe.
and how that may relate to their political party.
If there is a correlation between tech savvy and political party it's so small as to be meaningless.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The RNC is seeking "recovery for donations it allegedly lost as a result of its emails not being delivered to its supporters' inboxes," Calabretta noted.
Calabretta, a Biden appointee, called it "concerning that Gmail's spam filter has a disparate impact on the emails of one political party, and that Google is aware of and has not yet been able to correct this bias."
"The Court grants Defendant's Motion to Dismiss in full on the ground that it is immune from suit on these facts under Section 230 with leave to amend to establish a lack of good faith," the order said.
In January, the Federal Election Commission rejected a related RNC complaint that alleged Gmail's spam filtering amounted to "illegal in-kind contributions made by Google to Biden For President and other Democrat candidates."
The lawsuit in the US District Court "is not over" despite yesterday's ruling, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement quoted by Courthouse News Service.
If the Republican group "were to amend its Complaint to seek injunctive relief only, the Court would likely dismiss the entire action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction," the order said.
The original article contains 679 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Permanently Deleted
Google previously ran a pilot program that let political emails bypass the Gmail spam filter.
Straight fuck Google.
I wondered why I was getting more political spam in my inbox for a bit...
Ever since spamming was invented, spammers caught trespassing on other people's mail servers always say they're being unfairly targeted.