Show HN: Gmail unsubscribe tool with bulk deletion and personal data removal

53 pointsposted a year ago
by extrabright
(againstdata.com)

26 Comments

thorncorona

a year ago

You can click on the "manage subscriptions" button in Gmail and have this done natively in Gmail without passing all of your data to a 3rd party.

tmpz22

a year ago

How have I never known about this? I've spent so much time manually pruning large email inboxes...

hammock

a year ago

Where is that button?

hshshshsvsv

a year ago

It's on mobile app.

MollyRealized

a year ago

Can't seem to find it. But I wonder if you have to have Categories enabled ...

salesynerd

a year ago

You are right. For me, I always see a blue-colored "Unsubscribe" link on the right-end of the From header in mails that are in Promotions or Social categories.

esperent

a year ago

I've just spent 5 minutes exploring the Gmail Android app and the web interface on windows and I can't find this in either. I also searched Google for "Gmail manage subscriptions" and don't see it mentioned anywhere. Just links to manage Google payment subscriptions.

Are you sure this feature exists?

abetancort

a year ago

It does not do anything other than granting them a time indefinite permission into your gmail that permission allows them to read all of your emails, write and send as many new emails as you as they wish and it allows them the ability to delete/move/copy your emails using the gmail API.

esses

a year ago

I think we have been conditioned to love tools like these but not want to sign up for fear of leaking personal data to the tool.

xwowsersx

a year ago

Looks promising, and I could use some help organizing my own email. But here's a question: is there a risk that people will take advantage of a free trial for a one-time cleanup, and then not see the need for an ongoing subscription? I'm curious if that's a challenge in getting customers to commit.

heyoni

a year ago

I feel like it should be priced as a one time fee anyway. Most of us got caught up wanting to hoard emails, want to clean things up but might now be diligently unsubscribing and deleting things rather than save everything forever.

z5h

a year ago

I really appreciate how readable the Privacy Policy is. https://againstdata.com/privacy

I do think there should be more details about security. This is all that was mentioned:

> DAD constantly evaluates and upgrades the security measures implemented as to ensure a secure and safe personal data processing.

sam1r

a year ago

In the end of the day, we all just need to clear our email ourselves. That time should not go into paying you and fighting your data policy which is already trespassing, in my opinion.

If one does not already maintain their emails and subscriptions meticulously, which makes you think they will pay for your service, regularly?

The other thing is that, let's say, if I do share my email data with you -- 99% of it is likely to be immediately trashed, i just haven't spent the time to do it. So to relegate that to a third party, that's probably the reason I didn't delete it in the first place.

The value-add on of this service doesn't solve my reason for redundenant emails with unsub links -- i haven't had the spare few seconds to verify and do it myself.

hammock

a year ago

Not working for me right now. Spinning at different points

"Client error: `POST https:\/\/www.googleapis.com\/oauth2\/v4\/token` resulted in a `400 Bad Request` response:\n{\n \"error\": \"invalid_grant\",\n \"error_description\": \"Bad Request\"\n}\n"

or

500 Server Error

legitster

a year ago

> When you choose to delete, a legal template is sent to the company's privacy contact, notifying them that you have chosen to delete the data they hold on you.

I build the systems that handle GDPR data requests. Be warned that, depending on how complex the company's data systems are, you may be filing a support ticket that and requires some level of engagement. Especially if you are a user of said product and how authentication is established, you may accidentally delete your account.

Also, 90% of the templated GDPR removal requests we get are for details that don't exist in our system. My impression of these tools is they are not very smart and can end up spreading your PII around more than they erase it.

atum47

a year ago

I've talked to chatgpt about bulk deleting email and it suggested a script on the Google sheets?! Apparently it was quite simple and you don't have to give access to a third party app.

atum47

a year ago

Here’s an example of how you might use Google Apps Script to bulk delete emails from Gmail:

Steps:

1. Open Google Sheets (or any other Google app that supports Apps Script).

2. Open the Script Editor:

In Sheets, go to Extensions > Apps Script.

3. Write the Script:

function deleteOldEmails() { var threads = GmailApp.search('older_than:1y'); // Modify query as needed for (var i = 0; i < threads.length; i++) { threads[i].moveToTrash(); // Move emails to trash } }

This example deletes emails older than one year (older_than:1y). You can modify the search query for different criteria (e.g., label:unread, from:specific@example.com, before:YYYY/MM/DD).

4. Save the Script.

5. Run the Script:

Click the play icon to run the script. It will ask for permissions the first time.

This method allows you to automate email management using custom queries. Would you like to proceed with something like this, or were you thinking of a different approach?

onlypassingthru

a year ago

To be fair, writing your own apps script is a little more involved, although one of the major LLMs should get you most of the way there.

i_dont_know_

a year ago

I am the right fool... A random internet link said "can we read all your email" an I clicked 'yes'.

Welp. Time to do some major soul-searching and digital triage.

Novosell

a year ago

Hope it turns out alright. Could be real bad.

user

a year ago

[deleted]

itake

a year ago

[flagged]

user

a year ago

[deleted]