g.mail glitch

I learned a while back now that there is an issue with the use of dots at Gmail. This is a known issue that Google list on their help pages. I was quite relaxed about this as, to quote Google:

“If you’re homerjsimpson@gmail.com, no one owns Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com, except for you.”

So far so good.

Until I started getting emails from someone in Australia about all kinds of stuff – mostly related to a university campus down there. And other emails from the US, where church organisations were sending me with all kinds of stuff about things they wanted me to participate in.

On checking with the two sets of emailers, turns out the difference has come from the presence (or absence) of dots in the email address. In both cases I’ve been told that the email addresses are otherwise the same.

So now I’m worried. If I am getting their mail, are they getting mine as well?

In the wake of various other privacy / data security glitches from Google, I think I need to find a new webmail server. Fast!

Is anyone else bothered that Google’s concern for the security and privacy is so low that private communications can be shared so easily?

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