5 Gmail lessons from Petraeus affair

It’s become the email equivalent of separating church and state: work email is for official communications while private accounts are for personal — and sometimes inappropriate — messaging. But as the scandal that has enveloped former CIA director David Petraeus and Gen. John Allen has shown, Gmail and other Web-based email services are not completely safe zones. The FBI probe into Petraeus — which led to his resignation— serves as a reminder that even the most private emails sent on commercial online services among people using pseudonyms can be discovered and thrown into the harsh light of scrutiny. Here are Gmail lessons to be learned from the Petraeus affair:
1. It’s not anonymous.
2. Government requests for access are increasing and Google and other services play ball.
3. You’re not in cyberspace.
4. A draft email folder does not offer magical protection.
5. Off-record chats can linger — somewhere.