How To Keep Your Gmail ID Secure From 'Google+ Strangers'

Google has just switched on a new Gmail feature that allows any Google+ user to send you email, even if they’re a complete stranger.

If you have a Google+ profile and the sender has chosen to add you to their Google+ circles, your name will now pop up as a suggested recipient in their “To:” field – regardless of whether you’ve added them back, or indeed whether you know them at all.

This isn’t a surprising move, given Google has spent the last year aggressively pushing users onto Google+. It began fusing Gmail and Google+ contacts back in December 2011, making it easier to add someone to your circles directly from an email. This is just the latest attempt to bring the two services closer together – whether the users like it or not.

What worries me is that the feature is on by default. I checked my Gmail settings this morning, and lo and behold, anyone who has put me in their Google+ circles can now drop me a line unless I opt out. I’m no celebrity, but spammers and PRs constantly annoy me through LinkedIn mails  I don’t need this in my personal inbox too.

Some PC Pro readers have already told me they’re worried about spam or being perceived as a spammer – and that they’ll be switching off the new feature. Here’s how to do it.

Gmail settings

The new setting isn’t live for every Gmail user yet: you should get an email notification from Google when it is, titled “Gmail update: Reach more people you know”. That message gives a rundown of how to change your settings, but if, like me, you missed the email it’s easy enough to do yourself.

First, you will have to log into Gmail on the desktop site. There’s no way to update this particular setting through the Android app.

Then hit the cogwheel button on the top right-hand corner and click Settings.  That will take you to a new screen with tab headings such as General, Labels, Inbox, Accounts and so on.

You should land on the General tab by default, which shows various configuration options such as language, page size, browser security and so on.

If the new feature has been enabled for you, you’ll see a new setting about halfway down the page, headed “Email via Google+”. This offers four choices of who can get in touch with you: “Anyone on Google+”, “Extended circles”, “Circles” and “No one”. The first option is selected by default, meaning anyone who has added you to Google+ can email you, even if you haven’t added them back.

“Extended circles” is Google lingo for “friends of friends”, who may well be people you know but haven’t added to Google+. If you want to seal yourself off from potential Google+ spammers altogether, selecting “No one” is the safest choice.

Once you’ve picked a setting you’re happy with, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes.

This is a relatively simple process, but I wonder how many Gmail users really understand what Google+ is, having probably signed up just to make Google’s irritating pop-ups go away. Google has claimed that its social network has 540 million monthly active users – but how many will understand the privacy implications of this new setting?