Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses • Hacker News Board

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#41

Post by rockyj » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 2:35 PM UTC

tialaramex wrote: post #40

rockyj wrote: post #31

Then why did they allow someone else to create an email like mine without the dot and I even get the occasional mail addressed to them. This is really shady, specially for an important service like email.

They didn't. You get email because somebody either typo's their similar address or they simply think that's their address when it isn't.

Not sure, I contacted this person, since I got their phone number from one of their emails (e.g. they registered for a hotel). I specifically asked them if they made a typo, according to them they have been using this email for years (maybe they lied but why would they).

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#42

Post by dabeledo » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 2:36 PM UTC

rockyj wrote: post #31

Then why did they allow someone else to create an email like mine without the dot and I even get the occasional mail addressed to them. This is really shady, specially for an important service like email.

I think you are assuming someone else should have created that email address without the dot because you are getting emails addressed to someone else. The reality is it is more likely that someone who hasn't created that email is using it as their address because they don't really understand how email and email addresses work

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#43

Post by reallydontask » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 2:40 PM UTC

I think that for Enterprise customers (G-Suite) dots might matter as I tried to create a new (bot) account in Github with my email sans dots and I never received the email (email was not @gmail.com)

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#44

Post by lstamour » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 2:43 PM UTC

reallydontask wrote: post #43

I think that for Enterprise customers (G-Suite) dots might matter as I tried to create a new (bot) account in Github with my email sans dots and I never received the email (email was not @gmail.com)

This is mentioned in the article, yes. It is likely to preserve backwards compatibility with pre-existing email addresses from before the switch to Gmail.

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#45

Post by jumhyn » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 2:43 PM UTC

w-m wrote: post #35

jumhyn wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using this trick for a while (usually 'firstlast+per_service_identifier') and I've encountered more than a few systems which erroneously claim that any email address containing a '+' is invalid.

You could encode the service_identifier in a pattern of dots around the letters of firstlast for cases where the '+' is not allowed. But that's probably hard to do in a way that's easy to encode on the fly, unless you already know morse or something similar.

Also doesn't work if I'm not using Gmail :)

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#46

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 2:43 PM UTC

yakk0 wrote: post #37

Santosh83 wrote: post #6

I have been getting financial emails from several people for many years at my GMail ID. They apparently have given my address but without the dot. But what mystifies me is how these people keep going for years without ever realising they aren't getting account transaction emails (from their banks), notifications of stock trades, even OTP emails etc. How is it possible for people to use these services for years withou…

Same. The ones that surprise me are the credit card information or cell phone plans. I was able to contact the phone company and tell them to remove my address, but the credit card was an exercise in frustration. You can't get through without account or personal info. I just mark most of them as spam these days.

Forward the email with the explanation you've given to abuse@. Most companies should have someone monitoring such an inbox. If that doesn't work I'd call the desk of the cto or shame them on Twitter.

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#47

Post by bjohnson225 » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 2:45 PM UTC

plibither8 wrote: post #8

That, and '@googlemail.com'. example@gmail.com is equivalent to example@googlemail.com.

@googlemail.com was the default address for a few years in the UK because of a legal dispute. If you sent an email it'd always come from the longer domain.

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#48

Post by RandomBacon » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 2:45 PM UTC

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #21

Santosh83 wrote: post #6

I have been getting financial emails from several people for many years at my GMail ID. They apparently have given my address but without the dot. But what mystifies me is how these people keep going for years without ever realising they aren't getting account transaction emails (from their banks), notifications of stock trades, even OTP emails etc. How is it possible for people to use these services for years withou…

I've encountered the same problem. One day I'm going to stop being polite and cancel the Hotel Reservations, Conference Invites, and other shit that this guy keeps signing up for using my email address. Maybe that will get him to finally pay attention.

I imagine then you've probably gotten receipts/confirmations with the person's phone number. Have you tried calling him and letting him know?

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#49

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 2:52 PM UTC

jumhyn wrote: post #29

dhritzkiv wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use the + character (e.g. `firstlast+subscriptions`) it'll still arrive to your `firstlast` inbox, but will allow you to filter it more meaningfully.

I've been using this trick for a while (usually 'firstlast+per_service_identifier') and I've encountered more than a few systems which erroneously claim that any email address containing a '+' is invalid.

I have a fun story about this.

I had an account on some site and didn't use it for years. When I go back and try to login they demand I reset my password and verify my email. Sure, no problem. Thing is I used a foo+bar@ email and they had a little sanitizing script running that removed it when submitting the form. Rewriting their spaghetti and getting the form to submit successfully was fun. I was very surprised it worked. Guess they weren't sanitizing on the backend.

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#50

Post by tialaramex » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 2:56 PM UTC

ghastmaster wrote: post #5

This is indeed the case. I have checked it myself. The link below shows how this can be used maliciously. https://jameshfisher.com/2018/04/07/the-dots-do-matter-how-t... I do not know if this has been mitigated.

James is wrong, this is Netflix's fault. The same "scam" would work under a variety of circumstances because Netflix relies on something it has no reason to believe is true. Maybe you signed up to Netflix but your house mate thinks she did, she gets an email because of Eve, now you're both paying for Netflix, but actually she's paying for Eve's account.

Netflix could make this mistake with postal addresses even, if for some reason they used postal addresses. You get a letter from Netflix, you don't notice it's addressed to Eve, who had stupidly written your address instead of hers, you pay for her Netflix.

This is a data protection violation, data processors have a duty to take reasonable care that the personal information they have about data subjects is correct. If you need it, make sure it's accurate. If you don't need it, don't collect it.