Google Plans To Delete Thousands Of Free Idaho E-Mail Accounts

Depending on your age, you’ve likely had half a dozen e-mail accounts in your lifetime. If you’ve ever created one through Google’s Gmail, there’s a chance that it could be deleted as early as December 1.

Back when AOL was big in the ‘90s, most of us had some ridiculous Screen Name. Horseluvr. KoalaboyCam. Skittle35. You know, the type of e-mail address you would be mortified to put on a resume today.

When you got to college, they gave you a more professional-looking “.edu” e-mail address. Ours were the first six letters of our last names, followed by our first and middle initials. Other schools used your last name dot whatever number person with that last name you were to attend their institution. You know, something a little more appropriate for the job search.

Not all schools let you keep that e-mail address after graduation, so you likely set up a free e-mail account with a similar screen name. Many graduates chose Gmail as their provider because the domain is pretty well respected but when was the last time you logged into that account?

Google to Delete Hundreds of Idaho Gmail Accounts Beginning December 1

It’s something you might want to think about because Google is rolling out a new security policy and they plan to delete thousands of accounts that have sat inactive for two years or longer. Google explains that inactive accounts are vulnerable because they’re often secured using old passwords that may have been reused and exposed in a data leak. They’re also less likely to have two-step verification turned on. That makes them targets for identity theft, being used in phishing attacks or used to distribute malware.

That’s why starting December 1, they’ll start deleting accounts in Idaho and across the world, that haven’t been used in at least two years. Once they delete your account, they’ll also delete any Google Docs, Google Drive and Google Photos content associated with that address.

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That old Gmail account that you haven’t used in a while may not be top of mind, but there is a possibility that you have old photos or other content in that account that you may want one day. For example, we know that one of our oldest inboxes that we rarely, if ever, check is where you’ll find our first radio “airchecks” and resume. That’s something we don’t want to lose!

How Do I Save My Google Account?

The good news is that if you used your account at any point, you should have more than 24 hours to save it. They’re deleting accounts in phases and are starting with accounts that were created but never used.

In order to save your account, log into it ASAP and use it for something: read an old e-mail, upload a photo to Google Drive, watch a YouTube video or download our free station app through Google Play. That’s enough to save your account!