masala: the international spice

masala: the

nternational spice

Sunday, June 6

Pierce Spencer buys and sells
GMail accounts that will be
free in a few months.

Trader, 15, Riding a Gmail Boom
(use login:jojo@example.com password:foobar )

Pierce has sold, by his count, more than 50 accounts. His main supplier
has been a Gmail early adopter who told Pierce he has friends at Google
who hook him up with accounts. Account holders sometimes get chances
to invite new users to the Gmail-using club; for well-connected users who
have multiple accounts, the invitations can pile up.

The final prices of Pierce's auctions seem to rise and fall of their own
accord, without much rhyme or reason. Sometimes he thinks the sales
have finally run their course, then they perk up again. "It's like the stock
market," he said.

Pierce buys the free accounts for around $30 and sells them for around
$60 each, though buying and selling prices vary. He has been paid up to
$102.50 for an account.

GMail: Is Unlimited Space Worth Limited Privacy?
Google's free email service will provide 1 Gigabyte of email storage to
users, but privacy advocates worry about the technology that allows
Google to scan and place contextual ads in your incoming email. The
service is currently in Beta and a limited number of accounts are
available - the service is expected to launch for all users in a few months.

Added June 10:
Gmail Invitation Prices Crash
On Monday morning, invitations to join the testing of Google's
Gmail Web e-mail service were still fetching as much as $100 on
eBay closed auctions. By Wednesday afternoon, sellers were
lucky to crack the $20 mark.

Increased supply is the likely cause, with many Gmail users
receiving up to six invitations in the last two days.

:: Posted by salas

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