Is the problem that gmail is dropping the https connection after you login... so once you've signed in your cookies are sent in plain text?

Well if you go to https://mail.google.com/mail/ (note the https), then it keeps your session encrypted the whole time your logged in... so your cookies should be safe?

I do this at work currently anyway to stop the boss from getting my mail in plain text going through the proxy. I know mail is later sent in plain text across the internet but I dont care to much about people upstream reading my email, just people that know me.