Hillary Kelly describes the recent uproar over Google’s announcement that if you’re signed up with Google Plus, you can now email any other Gmail user who’s also signed up for Google Plus—even if you don’t know their email address or they yours. But is the uproar from privacy advocates reasonable? Kelly writes, in part:
A CNN headline about Google’s feature—“Google Makes It Easier for Strangers to Email You”—succinctly described the key prospect that horrified many Gmail users: Total strangers can now send you email. In truth, your email address is no longer private information, and hasn’t been for a long time. Total strangers have been sending me (and all of you, I assume) email for years. Before advanced spam filters, inboxes overflowed with unsolicited notes. Nowadays, such emails are tucked out sight, but they’re still there. I receive dozens of emails a day from people I have never met and will never meet, most of them wanting something from me, whether it’s my time, money, or ironically enough, someone else’s contact information. If there is a person out there who has managed to limit their inbox’s contents to close notes from dear friends, please make yourself known (privately, of course).
Read more on New Republic.
Thanks to Joe Cadillic for this link.