A number of organizations use Google Gmail and/or Google+ for communications, taking advantage of the convenience and security of a cloud service.
But a new Google+ feature may give users some concern. Like any email service, one of the ways you can control spam and other nuiance messages is by keeping control of your address.
Google has now added a feature where Gmail will suggest Google+ addresses when you start typing – for example, when typing in the To: field, as soon as you enter a letter the app will give a list of people whose names start with that letter.
As blogger Graham Cluley points out, strangers won’t be able to get your address unless you respond to them. However, if you’re still uncomfortable with the feature it can be turned off through a setting in the “Email via Google+” menu. Chose “no one” in the option for who can email you via your Google+ profile.
“It is a nuisance how Internet companies change settings like this, pulling the rug from underneath individuals who were happy with the status quo and don’t want to have to constantly check that they aren’t a little less private this week than they were last week,” writes Cluley.