Fed up with the tireless Gmail access attempts from continental Asia? Well, no longer! Google has implemented a new warning system that will alert you if your Gmail account is suspected of having been accessed from afar.

I’m impressed, if only a little. This is the first example I’ve seen of the recent fad of geotagging being put to good use.

Okay, okay, so it’s not ‘geotagging’ in the purest sense. Gmail logs the IP address of the accessing computer, and compares its general location and time to the previous IP address. For instance, if you log in in Calgary at noon, and Cairo at noon-thirty, Google’s gonna wave a red flag all up in your grill.

This is a great step in the right direction for Gmail, although the accuracy of the system remains to be seen – I guess there’s no accounting for proxies.

Google warns its users, though: “Keep in mind that these notifications are meant to alert you of suspicious activity but are not a replacement for account security best practices.”

Truer words, Google. I can’t keep my account any safer than not telling all these readers that my Gmail password is lunchbox.

Oh, wait.

Shit, did I just hit Publish?

[Via TechRadar]