Google open up users' archives of Gmail and Calendar for downloading

U.S. search giant Google says it is making its archives available to users, allowing them to search and find emails and calendar events from years past. Users of Gmail and Google Calendar will be able to export a copy of archive data for both backups and in order to move the data to other platforms, the Mountain View, Calif., firm said Thursday. "Having access to your data and being able to take it with you is important, especially if that data contains precious memories like old love letters, your first job offer, or that 100-message thread discussing the merits of various cat videos," Google software engineer Nick Piepmeier said in a blog post. While nostalgic revisiting of cat videos may be nice, the move suggests Google is hoping to reassure users that they control their own data in the wake of revelations about government data mining programs, ZDNet said. Users can search for particular data using Gmail labels or calendar date ranges or can download the entire contents of their personal archives, Google said. The archive for Google Calendar is available now, while the Gmail option will be introduced over the next month or so, Google said.