Google: Your Gmail's more private now

Google says it has enhanced the encryption technology for its flagship email service in ways that will make it harder for the National Security Agency to intercept messages moving among the company's worldwide data centers.

The change affects more than 425 million users of Google's Gmail service.

Among the most disturbing disclosures in documents leaked by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden were reports that the NSA had secretly tapped into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world.

In November, Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, said that he was outraged over the practice.

Google and other technology companies have been outspoken about the U.S. government's spy programs. The companies are worried people will reduce their online activities if they believe almost everything they do is being monitored by the government.

A decline in Internet use could hurt the companies financially by giving them fewer opportunities to show users targeted online ads and sell other services.

On Thursday, Schmidt didn't mention the NSA when announcing the encryption launch, except in a veiled reference to "last summer's revelations." 

"Google is making it tougher for the government to spy on its customers without going through Google," said Chris Soghoian, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union. "There are still ways for NSA to spy on the bad guys but this will prevent them from spying on 500 million people at once."

Yahoo has promised similar steps for its email service by this spring.

Nonetheless, Google and other technology companies will provide information to the NSA and other government agencies when required by a court order.

"Your email is important to you, and making sure it stays safe and always available is important to us," Nicolas Lidzborski, Gmail's security engineering lead, wrote in a blog post.

Lidzborski said that all Gmail messages a consumer sends or receives are now encrypted.

"This ensures that your messages are safe not only when they move between you and Gmail's servers, but also as they move between Google's data centers — something we made a top priority after last summer's revelations," Lidzborski wrote.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in California dismissed a class action lawsuit against Google alleging privacy violations involving the collection of customer data to show web surfers targeted advertisements.

Gmail users accused Google of violating federal and state privacy and wiretapping laws by scanning their messages so it could compile secret account profiles and target advertising

Google also faces litigation in California accusing it of violating federal wiretapping law by accidentally collecting emails and other personal data while building its Street View mapping program.

Google has said its software simply looks for keywords that can lead to the tailored advertisements.

For its part, the NSA has said it only focuses on targets with foreign intelligence value.

Al Jazeera and wire services