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As you may have heard, Russian hackers have published the passwords for roughly five million Gmail accounts. This follows the publication of millions of passwords for two of Russia's largest email services, Yandex and Mail.Ru.Chances are, your account is not one of the hacked Gmail accounts, because that figure of five million represents only a fraction of the number of Gmail accounts that are active in the world. For instance, the Gmail app has been downloaded one billion times to Android devices. Even back in 2012, Gmail had 350 million users.But a group of programmers have decided to help you check...

Two top government watchdogs in Washington D.C. slammed a key aide to Secretary of State John Kerry for using a private Gmail account to conduct official government business, calling it “the worst possible practice in trying to maintain transparency” and speculating whether this was “how the Benghazi talking points were developed.” The Daily Caller reported on Monday that Glen Johnson, a strategic communications advisor to Kerry, fabricated a claim about the number of times Kerry appeared on “Fox News Sunday” while attempting to force TheDC to change a report which said that the secretary had “shut out” Fox News reporter...

Google has updated its terms of service to reflect that it analyzes user content including emails to provide users tailored advertising, customized search results and other features. The Internet giant’s scanning of users’ email has been controversial with privacy groups describing it as an intrusion into user privacy. Competitor Microsoft claims in its “Don’t Get Scroogled by Gmail” campaign that its Outlook.com email service is superior to Gmail as unlike Google it does not go through email looking for keywords to target users with paid advertisements. In a case in California over Google’s interception of email, District Judge Lucy H....

Google might not be a scrappy startup anymore, but despite being one of the biggest companies in the world, they have managed to hold on to a unique sense of humour and that's most apparent on April 1 every year. The company has a long tradition of April Fools' Day jokes, and different teams like Chrome and Maps and Gmail all come up with their own pranks so there's a lot to choose from just out of Google. Last year, more than a few people actually believed that Google Nose - a sniff search system - was a real thing....

If 'read receipts' on emails weren't annoying enough, a San Francisco-based firm has taken the art of tracking emails to the next level. The Streak plugin lets Gmail account holders monitor which of their sent items have been opened, who opened them, the exact time they were opened and how many times those emails have been viewed since. It also reveals details about the device used to read the email, and even the reader's approximate location. Streak is aimed at sales and marketing professionals, and the company calls it a 'Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) in your inbox.' However, the plugin...

In what one expert on Internet privacy calls "a worst-case scenario," a Massachusetts man was jailed for sending his ex-girlfriend (who had a restraining order against him) an email invitation to join Google+. But Thomas Gagnon contends he didn't send it;Google did,without his knowledge or consent. When his ex-girlfriend received the invitation, according to the Salem News, she went to the police, complaining Gagnon had violated the restraining order by sending her the email. Police agreed and arrested him, the News reported.He was jailed then released on $500 bail. Attorney Bradley Shear, an internationally recognized expert on Internet privacy, told...

Yahoo Mail users are furious after the company debuted a major resign of the popular email service that eliminated many features and, some claim, left it looking like a knock off of competitor Gmail. Observers say the 'beautiful' new look of Yahoo Mail is a product of new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer - and it has backfired. The mail service's 275million users were 'surprised' on October 8 with the redesign and tens of thousands have complained about glitches and reduced functionality. Many simply don't like the look and feel of the new product.

Former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden declared Gmail the preferred email provider of terrorists during a speech Sunday. At St. John's Episcopal Church across the street from the White House, Hayden appeared during an adult education forum and spoke on "the tension between security and liberty." Hayden defended Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA), which provides the legal basis for the NSA's PRISM surveillance program. "Gmail is the preferred Internet service provider of terrorists worldwide," Hayden said, though he presumably meant online service rather than an actual ISP. "I don't think you're going to see that...

I've been a yahoo e-mail user for over 15yrs and Yahoo has come up with a new policy for users to be implemented sooner than later. I realize that all communications are now being scanned & archived by the fed gov't but I do feel Yahoo is going above & beyond and really pushing for advertising dollars. It burns me,too,& that's why I want out. I'm not partial to gmail or outlook. Does anyone have a suggestion for a free email service that is reputable and has a modicum of privacy? I would appreciate your comments and suggetions. Thanks!

It’s 4 p.m. ET as I’m writing this. If you had that time plus “deeper complicity for Holder in the Rosen investigation” in the pool, congrats.We already knew that he signed the warrant for Rosen’s e-mails. Now we know for sure that it wasn’t pro forma. President Good Government announced yesterday that he’s ordered the Attorney General to review the DOJ’s guidelines for snooping on reporters. Imagine how dismayed Eric Holder will be when he finds out what Eric Holder’s done. The Justice Department said on Friday that officials up to Attorney General Eric Holder vetted a decision to search...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Google's mail and application services are unavailable to some users. .... Google's apps status dashboard shows that its Mail, Drive file storage service and office-application services are "disrupted." Its administrator control panel, which lets companies manage their Google applications, is completely down. The disruptions started affecting people worldwide around 8 a.m. Eastern time. Google Inc. says it's "working hard to restore normal operation."

I can't for the life of me figure out how to reply or compose with the new gmail changes. I am directing people back to my old hotmail account for the time being. This may sound trivial, but all my business contacts are now on that account and I can't use it. They say there is a way to go back to the old system but I can't figure that out either. I am not a total Internet spazz, but this one has me defeated.

SNIPPET: "So there I was, doing that thing I do - targeted collection, and triage based on a range of frequently changing criteria - when I happened to notice this image:" SNIPPET: "georgi.ir: sometimes what isn't there is still interesting"

American government agencies—state, local, and federal—made a record 13,753 requests to read emails or gather other information sent through Google’s Gmail and other services in 2012, more than half without warrants, according to statistics released by Google. The total number of users about whom government agencies wanted information also set a record at 31,072, up from 23,300 in 2011, the first year Google began reporting the data. The discrepancy comes because government agencies request information on multiple users or accounts at the same time. … Google keep records of all email and other communication sent through its e-mail, telephone, YouTube,...

Are you a Hotmail user? Microsoft announced a new email service that will replace Hotmail, a product that boasts 325 million customers. Further, the company hopes to woo new users away from Gmail, which is now the most popular email service. Microsoft named the new product Outlook, after its existing email for business users. That’s right, the one you’ve probably been using at the office. “There was a perception gap with Hotmail from tech enthusiasts and youth,” Windows Live general manager Brian Hall told VentureBeat, a highly regarded tech website. “Many of them wouldn’t take a second look at Hotmail...

“Who here has a BlackBerry? Who here uses Gmail? Well you are all screwed!” Assange exclaimed. “The reality is intelligence contractors are selling right to countries around the world mass surveillance systems for all of those products.”

Larry Page is a busy man. The Google CEO wants his company moving quickly and decisively. That, in turn, means eliminating the plodding exchanges fostered by Gmail.com. Who invented that thing, anyway? "He does not much like e-mail...even his own Gmail, saying the tedious back-and-forth takes too long to solve problems... "

yesterday, a friend who works in an IT department described an interesting action by gmail. i had another friend test and confirm the action. those of you who are on gmail, check this out. create a new mail. in subject, put 'here it is'. in body of message, put 'see attachment'. don't attach anything. hit send. instead of sending the message, gmail will pop up a window saying: 'Do you mean to attach files? You wrote "see attachment" in your message, but there are no files attached. Send anyway?'

Chinese Warn Google May Get Punished For Making Country Look Bad Jun 6, 2011 at 8:31am ET by Greg Sterling China is being very defensive. Google’s recent exposure of more attempted Gmail hacking, targeting US government officials and Chinese human-rights activists, has made the Chinese government embarrassed and angry. Suspected state-sponsored Gmail hacking is what initially caused Google to discontinue cooperating with China’s internet censorship policies. Chinese: Google Is a “Political Tool” Last week’s hacking incident and Google’s statements that indirectly point to the government as the source have the Chinese seeing red, so to speak. Claiming that China is...

Chinese hackers have infiltrated Google's Gmail system and broken into hundreds of accounts, including those of senior government officials and political activists, the company said. Google says all victims have been notified and their accounts have been secured. "Through the strength of our cloud-based security and abuse detection systems, we recently uncovered a campaign to collect user passwords, likely through phishing," wrote Eric Grosse, engineering director of Google's Security Team, in a post on the company blog. "This campaign, which appears to originate from Jinan, China, affected what seem to be the personal Gmail accounts of hundreds of users including,...