So I want to sell my macally ipod FM transmitter. I go to the usual - craigslist.org, and start creating my ad. At the end the that step, craigslist asks you to check email and click on the link provided in the email to finalize and publish the ad.

I usually give my gmail address because that way I don’t have to worry about correspondence being on my home computer vs my office computer.

But this morning, after logging in to gmail I did not log out and after about 3 hours or so, I saw a pretty weird (at the time) message - something to the effect that I was doing something that violated the gmail policy and that my account was locked out for up to 24 hours.

What? Was my account compromised? Was there a virus that saw I was logged into gmail for a long time and started sending mails by the dozen?

Luckily, at the end of the message, there was an email address where I can send a question about why and how and all that.

I got what looked like an autoresponse within seconds - it said that if I use Firefox extension Greasemonkey, it could be one of the reasons they locked me out.

I do use Firefox, and I do use Greasemonkey and along with that, another popular extension called CustomizeGoogle, which among other things lets me hide those googe ads. I did not turn that option on, except once, to show the wife what that extension can possibly do. I use the extension mainly to put two extra buttons on gmail main page - ‘Mark Read’ and ‘Delete’.

Anyway, the email also said that anywhere from 1 minute to 24 hours from that point, I can expect my account to be unlocked. What?? 1 minute to 24 hours??? What kind of a process is that?

Anyway, I tried opening gmail for a few minutes after then, but no luck. So I gave up and after 3 hours, I tried again, and this time with IE, and it worked.

I am scared to go to gmail from firefox now. But what is more scary is that they are disallowing me to do something on my computer that potentially does not do ANYTHING on their computers! Why is that?

Is Google quickly becoming the next Microsoft? The Big Bully Part Deux?