Just because you are not paranoid doesn't mean they are not reading your Gmail

Davey Winder
Wednesday, 09 July 2008 15:17

Your IT - Home IT

Which raises an interesting point: if this is aimed at stupid users, as it appears it is, then what makes Google think they will scroll to the bottom of the screen to see the information in the first place? Let alone open the details link in the footer which carries the really interesting news on the privacy front as far as I am concerned.

The original report shows a screenshot which highlights the data contained in that details link as being concurrent session information which reveals open sessions, IP addresses and access types. You can even see if your email was opened using iGoogle or a mobile phone for example.

This truly is a great tool to trap the snooper, because if you spot your mail being read by mobile phone and you only access it on your laptop then the chances are (stupid user mode on) someone else has been reading it.

Another link, Recent Activity, displays a table showing all the recent activity on your account so you can even check to see when the snoopers did the snooping. How cool is that?

The answer, my friend, is very cool indeed. Or at least it will be when the upgrade rolls out to everyone. I've been checking all day and my numerous Gmail accounts are all still bog standard and privacy feature unenhanced.

Still, that Inquirer screenshot is something to look at while I am waiting...