A Massachusetts man landed behind bars after his ex-girlfriend complained to the police of an email invitation to join Google+ from the boyfriend despite an active restraining order against him.
Thomas Gagnon, a Massachusetts resident was arrested after his ex-girlfriend filed a complaint against him for violating a restraining order. Police issued a warrant against Gagnon after his ex-girlfriend showed a copy of the email invitation to join Google+ sent to her. But Gagnon's attorney said his client had no knowledge of sending any such email and blamed Google for generating an automatic invitation without any consent.
The 32-year-old man was arrested 90 minutes after his ex-girlfriend, whom he had popped the question with a $4,000 ring earlier this month, notified police on Thursday. The district court judge reviewed the case and issued a bail in Gagnon's favor at $500, according to Massachusetts newspaper Salem News. He was further advised by the judge to obey the terms of the restraining order.
Gagnon and his attorney, Neil Hourihan, failed to explain how the message was transmitted. But Google's auto-notification for its social networking site has raised concerns in the past. Several users complained on Google forums about receiving emails stating their Google+ connection has been accepted when the users have no knowledge of sending any such invitation.
"I am getting notifications that people have accepted my invitation to Google + and I never ever sent anything out to them," one Google+ user wrote on a Google product forum. "I know it took me a second to realize that when I add people to a circle, they automatically get invited to be my friend."
Of late, Google has been focusing on its email and social media service. The web giant also added a new feature that allows users to send emails to other Google+ connections, even if the email address is not shared between the sender and the recipient, as long as they follow them on the social network.
