Gmail for Schools and Businesses gets the Encryption – Computer – News option

Google Gmail for Schools and a more affordable subscription for businesses give the option to encrypt emails on the client side. As a result, the Google servers can no longer see what is in the emails.

Users can sign up for the beta next month, Google says. The job is called CSE, Client-side encryption. It’s the first time there’s been an option to encrypt emails in Gmail, a service that’s been around for more than eighteen years. Calendar, Meet, and Drive already include client-side encryption options.

The trial will run on Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard. The functionality will therefore not be available to Enterprise users at this time, nor to Workspace private users. Regular users of the free mail service won’t get the option at this time.

Whether that ever happens remains to be seen, since showing relevant ads based on the content of emails is Google’s revenue model for Gmail. With subscriptions, the money comes through the subscribers and there are no ads in this version of the service. Google says encryption for other Google services is also coming.