J
Jeff Causey
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Google Calendar appears to have a bug that could create some embarrassing situations for users or even produce a security breach for some users. Through the Google web interface, it has been discovered that invites for private events may be triggered if an email address is included in the title. Users may be familiar with how Google tries to interpret the information in a title if they have ever included time and date info in the field. Including the schedule info will cause Google Calendar to populate those fields even though the data was typed into the title. Apparently Google handles email addresses the same way in some instances, assuming a user wants to invite someone to an event if their email address is in the title.
Some research has indicated Google mentions the system will attempt to treat email addresses in this manner, but it is unclear as to exactly how it functions. For instance, the behavior is triggered when using the expanded calendar entry screen but not from the quick entry pop up. Sending an invite has also been discovered to work with some non-Gmail addresses. The developer who first noted this issue, Terence Eden, reports the system does not attempt to interpret email addresses in titles when an event is created on Android devices.
Depending on the type of event one is creating, accidentally inviting someone may just be an inconvenience or create an awkward situation. However, some have noted this could be used to spam a person’s calendar by sending a bunch of invites. Depending on how it shows up in the invitee’s system, a user could also expose their Gmail address or Google+ account.
Google has indicated they are working on the issue. In the meantime, be careful about what you include in your event titles when setting up Google Calendar events.
source: The Verge
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