Gmail for schools and businesses gets an option for encryption

Google gives Gmail for schools and the more expensive subscription for companies the option to encrypt emails on the client side. As a result, Google’s servers can no longer see what is in the emails.

Google Client Side Encryption in Gmail

Users can sign up for the beta in the coming month, says Google. The function is called CSE, Client Side Encryption. This is the first time that there has been an option to encrypt emails in Gmail, a service that has been around for more than eighteen years. Calendar, Meet and Drive already had options for client-side encryption.

The beta will function on Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus and Education Standard. The function will not be available for Enterprise users for the time being, nor for private users of Workspace. Regular users of the free mail service will also not receive the option for the time being.

It remains to be seen whether this will ever happen, because showing relevant advertisements based on the content of emails is a revenue model of Google for Gmail. With subscriptions, the money comes in through the subscribers and there are no advertisements in that version of the service. Google says encryption for other Google services is also coming.