Be very careful when you’re using Gmail because a new bug could lead you to send your messages to the wrong recipients. Business Insider details that many Gmail users have been complaining recently that Google’s automatically generated contact suggestions have been bringing up people whom they infrequently contact. This means, for instance, that if your wife’s name is Jane and you type her first name into the contacts box, another Jane might pop up first instead.
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The most high-profile complaint has come from venture capitalist Fred Wilson, who over the weekend said he received a bunch of messages from Gmail users that were clearly not intended for him. Wilson says this bug is particularly baffling given how much emphasis Google puts on knowing what we really want to do before we actually do it.
“Google is so good at knowing who you might want to send something to that they should do more than they do right now,” he writes. “They could easily pop up a warning saying ‘you don’t normally send this kind of document to this person’ or ‘you don’t normally include this person in the group you are sending this to.’ These sorts of data driven protections/warnings would further cement the already airtight lock they have on me and many others who use Gmail and Google Docs.”
Google’s Gmail team has acknowledged the problem, which doesn’t seem to be affecting all users, and is now investigating the issue. In the meantime, be sure to double-check Gmail’s contacts suggestions when you’re sending an email to make sure your message is going to the person it’s intended for.
