<p>Russia's security services claim this recruiting letter was used in the case, and that it encouraged the prospective spy to set up a Gmail account.</p><p>When will the cloak-and-dagger world learn? Or those of us trying to keep private things private? Gmail or any Web-based email for that matter does not guarantee privacy. To anyone.</p><p>The latest example of skullduggery gone awry involving the world's most popular email client was made public Tuesday, when Russia claimed an American diplomat was trying to recruit a Russian intelligence official to work for the CIA, and urged the potential recruit to set up a Gmail account through which they would communicate.</p><p>This has not worked well in other cases at all. Former CIA Director David Petraeus resigned last year after it was discovered he was having an affair with Paula Broadwell, using a shared Gmail account to communicate. In recent years, Google itself accused China of spying on Chinese human rights activists who used Gmail, and the Gmail account of an Associated Press staffer was broken into in China in 2010. In the corporate world, a Netherlands company won a court order requiring Google to release information related to a Gmail "spybox" believed to be set up by a high-level company executive.</p><p><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gmail-gaining-popularity-among-spies-its-not-top-secret-enough-1C9910478">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/05/russia-spy/">Russia Busts CIA &#039;Spy&#039; and His Gmail</a> (Wired)</p><p><a href="http://mashable.com/2013/05/14/cia-spy-used-gmail/">Alleged CIA Spy Accused of Using Gmail to Recruit Russian Agents - Mashable</a> (Mashable)</p><p><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/translation-full-text-alleged-cia-spy-letter-article-1.1344455">Get in touch by Gmail! Translated text of alleged CIA letter to Russian spy</a> (New York Daily News)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=d_mNkq5nD_0n8wMfQot1hPGNLp3IM&ned=us">328 additional articles.</a></p>