Instead of fight the case, Google agreed to change how it scans these emails — although scans for spam and malware would still occur during the delivery process as occurred before. Google is to change the way it processes emails after settling a case in a northern California district court . Emails will now be scanned once they are in the user 's Gmail inbox rather than during the delivery process . The previous method meant that non - Gmail accounts were being scanned as well , which led the plaintiffs in Matera vs. Google to argue that this violated privacy laws . Google agreed to change its scanning process rather than settle the case . It is not clear whether the company benefited materially from its original scanning process .
Google is to change the way it processes emails after settling a case in a northern California district court . Emails will now be scanned once they are in the user 's Gmail inbox rather than during the delivery process . The previous method meant that non - Gmail accounts were being scanned as well , which led the plaintiffs in Matera vs. Google to argue that this violated privacy laws . Google agreed to change its scanning process rather than settle the case . It is not clear whether the company benefited materially from its original scanning process .