Gmail Mis.delivered?

An anonymous reader writes "Google doesn't make many mistakes but when it does, boy, are they doozies! The latest is that Gmail doesn't care about periods in usernames. So mail sent to anonymous.coward@gmail.com is also delivered to anonymouscoward@gmail.com, even though these are two separate mail accounts. Google admits Gmail doesn't see periods, but no word on a fix yet." Update: As may users have pointed out Ars has since corrected the story, stating that the original submitter was mistaken and the email was just improperly addressed.

Comments

Shame really

[LiquidCoooled]

This couldv been a really neat feature.
I could signup a generic slashdot@gmail.com type account and then pass around multiple variations to different sites.
Depending upon the variation received I could determine which site leaked my mail.

I think the only way to rectify this is to start accounting for the period.
The cat is out of the bag so to speak.

Identity theft?

[SuperDuG]

Since in its infinite wisdom most webservices allow password resets to happen via email. Wouldn't it just be a matter of time to find out soemone's email address and then have the "oops I lost my password" feature on a number of websites utilized?

I wonder how many slashdot accounts, internet domains, and amazon accounts are linked via an @gmail.com address.

This is most certainly not a "little" problem by any means...

Old news

[RedWizzard]

This has been the case since day 1. The only problem is if Google has been allowing people to register addresses that differ only because of the position of periods. Certainly they generally don't - I've tried to register several variations of my gmail address without success. It looks like the case discussed in this article is a isolated incident.

Re:It's beta?

[DaHat]

Oh please, it's rare that Google ever move from a beta version to a gold version.

Granted, officially it's a public beta, sadly very few treat it that way and rely on it for their primary email contact.

Does it work both ways?

[Jason1729]

For example, can I create g.oogle@gmail.com and get a copy of all email sent to google@gmail.com?

Why leave this article?

[angryLNX]

Why is this article being left on the front page? It has been seen to be completely invalid, and is giving people the wrong idea. Great, you put a correction up, but the correction negates everything the article contains. Get rid of it.

Re:Update?

[earnest murderer]

In other news, a gentleman by the name of Due Diligence was found dead on a downtown street, apparently trampled to death.

When asked about it Angry Mob (currently confined at digg.com) replied "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story".

Seriously, this was a pretty big fuckup regurgitating some random assholes blog entry without checking *anything*. I expect this at digg.com where inflamitory and baseless rule the day. Slashdot can claim to merely be a discussion of "news" and not necessarily journalism itself. Ars, I expected more.