Google Looks To Deter Gmail Account Selling
By Jeff Fila
July 02, 2004
With Gmail accounts being a hot commodity on the Internet, Google has amended their policies in the attempt to prevent people from selling the coveted e-mail accounts.
Google has added a line to their Gmail program policies this week stating that members are not allowed to "sell, trade, resell or otherwise exploit for any unauthorized commercial purpose or transfer any Gmail account."
The change came as a result of Gmail accounts being traded, sold, and transferred as a hot commodity. Websites have sprung up all over the net in order to help facilitate the Gmail account trade, and accounts have been spotted for sale on eBay. Several forums and discussion groups have also been set up to sell or help the the account trade.
Gmail accounts, while the service is still in a beta test, has become a higly coveted commodity because of its ease of use and 1GB of online storage. Google's announcement of Gmail in May sparked an e-mail war with other web-based account providers as competitors increase the amount of storage space they offer.
Google's Gmail policies can be found by clicking on this link.