# can gmail be traced?



## bruizer (May 26, 2012)

If you sent an email using gmail can it be traced back to the computer it was sent from.  My girlfriend set up an gmail account and sent an anonymous email to her employer that gave information on another employee stealing.  Now the person was fired and is sueing the company so she is worried that her name might come up if they trace the email back to her computer??


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## johnb35 (May 27, 2012)

Did she send it from home or work?  All they can basically get is IP address where it came from and possible operating system used.


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## wolfeking (May 27, 2012)

as said, all they can do is trace the IP address and OS. And really if the other employee was stealing, then they can not do anything about getting fired.


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## bruizer (May 27, 2012)

johnb35 said:


> Did she send it from home or work?  All they can basically get is IP address where it came from and possible operating system used.



She sent it from home...but I thought that gmail did not show the ip address when an email is sent.  She is worried if it goes to court that the lawyers will be able to get the information from google and our service provider.  Would google release this information for a case like this or does it have to be much more serious


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## wolfeking (May 27, 2012)

the only way that they could get google to release that info would be with a warrant.


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## johnb35 (May 27, 2012)

There is no need to worry.  Your girlfriend can't get in any trouble if the stealing actually happened.  Every email sent has an email header, which has different bits of information including IP address from where the mail was sent.  Can't understand why you are so worried.


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## bruizer (May 27, 2012)

She doesnt want to have to go to court or be known as a whistle blower or a rat at her workplace.


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