The feature, announced on the official Gmail blog,
won't give your actual e-mail address to strangers. But when a Gmail
user begins typing in the address box, it will provide suggestions
including people in their Google+ network.
The idea, Google says, is
to make it easier to contact friends and other contacts when you've
forgotten, or never had, their e-mail address. But some early reactions
suggested the new change may make it too easy.
In our opinion, it's just another reason to hate Google+. They have officially turned it into a stalking tool.
Google, clearly anticipating the privacy concerns, notes that users may limit the feature, or opt out of it entirely.
While the default G+
setting will allow anyone on Google+ to contact you, users may limit
that access to people in their Circles on the network, or to nobody at
all.
There are other limits,
too. A user may only e-mail you using the system once if you don't reply
(addressing the stalking concerns, perhaps). And messages from people
who are not in your G+ Circles will go into the "Social" folder, along
with other posts from sites like G+, Facebook and Twitter, instead of
the user's primary inbox.
Google said the feature
will be rolling out to Gmail and Google+ users over the next couple of
days, when they will receive a message with a link to the feature.
Source: Gmail Email Blast
