<p>SAN FRANCISCO -- Privacy advocates are raising the alarm about a new feature in Google's email service Gmail that lets Google+ users send you emails even if they don't know your email address.</p><p>"Have you ever started typing an email to someone only to realize halfway through the draft that you haven't actually exchanged email addresses? If you are nodding your head 'yes' and already have a Google+ profile, then you're in luck, because now it's easier for people using Gmail and Google+ to connect over email," Google product manager David Nachum wrote in a blog post. "As an extension of some earlier improvements that keep Gmail contacts automatically up to date using Google+, Gmail will suggest your Google+ connections as recipients when you are composing a new email."</p><p>Your email address isn't visible to a Google+ connection unless you send that person an email, and that person's email address isn't visible to you unless he or she sends you an email, Google says.</p><p>The new feature is part of a broader effort to commingle Google+ with Google's other services. The 2 1/2-year-old social network has 540 million active users. When people sign up for Gmail, they now automatically receive a Google+ account.</p><p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-gmail-google-plus-email-privacy-20140109,0,6178540.story">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/gmail-plans-to-allow-google-plus-users-to-send-anyone-an-email/">Gmail Plans to Allow Google Plus Users to Send Anyone an Email</a> (New York Times (blog))</p><p><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57616983-93/google-begins-to-merge-google-gmail-contacts/">Google begins to merge Google+, Gmail contacts</a> (CNET)</p><p><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/09/new-gmail-feature-allows-anyone-on-google-to-email-you-vice-versa-but-opt-out-is-provided/">New Gmail Feature Allows Anyone On Google+ To Email You &amp; Vice Versa, But ...</a> (TechCrunch)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dx72W_I0IeROl2MTxl2QdlxCAHoqM&authuser=0&ned=us">453 additional articles.</a></p>