I realise that Google places ads in the native Gmail environment. However, when using a third party front end to embed the Google services, how does the company make money off that? When I use Thunderbird to access Gmail or the Google Calendar or when I map my Google Drive to the file explorer, how can Google profit from this kind of use?
Exploiting means exactly what it means.
Once they have the scan, that’s their data. Of course they’re going to be using it for other things. The excuses they give, are of course, the foot in the door.
It’s a “bit rich” that you think you’re not the product.