[kwlug-disc] GMail, profile photo, and privacy: HOW'd it DO that?!?

[Ronald Barnes]

Hi,

I was handed a phone yesterday to enter my email address into the To: 
field of their GMail app.

It auto-completed to ron at ronaldbarnes.ca, which is hosted at Gandi.net 
and has *nothing* to do with Google.

Along with the auto-completion (which may have come from the phone 
owner's email history - we've exchanged mail before), a profile picture 
appeared.


It was the profile photo of my *parents'* account.

I was astounded!

After contemplating the possibilities, I decided that my email address 
must be listed as a recovery address for parents' account.


Seems this could be a massive privacy invasion: between work & private 
accounts; between public & private accounts, etc.


Having just checked the recovery options though, and my parents' 
account's recovery email address is mine, but at an entirely different 
domain.

Just as I thought I'd figured it out, I'm stumped all over again.


Can anyone shed some light on what the hell is going on?



Finally, tested this with someone else's phone - it didn't happen. 
Then, he upgraded to latest GMail app, tried again, and the profile 
photo appeared.  Have a screenshot to prove it.


Help?


Thanks,

rb