In the latest episode of the hit drama series "Google forces everyone who ever lived to use Google+," the company has further aligned the social network with its popular Gmail webmail client.
Unless Gmail users amend their privacy settings, the web giant will let anyone on Google+ to send emails to their inbox, regardless of whether they're affiliated through tenuous 'Circles' or 'Extended Circles.'
Within the new 'email from Google+' options within Gmail settings, users will be able to choose from a range of options, from 'No one', to 'Anyone' on Google+ with the circles options offered as middle ground.
Those Google+ users sending emails won't be able to harvest the email address of the recipient until they receive a reply, but the feature is sure to prove a massive turn off to some.
Circle of Strife
The update actually arrives under the guise of making it easier for Gmail users to email the people that they know through Google+ Circles. As you begin typing in Gmail's "To" field, Google+ contacts will begin to auto-fill with the contact's name.
"As you can tell from the example above," David Nachum, Gmail Product Manager wrote, "these emails work a bit differently so that your email address is only shared with the people you want.
"Your email address isn't visible to a Google+ connection unless you send that person an email, and likewise, that person's email address isn't visible to you unless they send you an email."
The changes are rolling out to all Gmail users within the next couple of weeks, so if you don't want any Tom, Dick or Harry from Google+ invading your inbox keep your eye out for those new privacy settings.
