Interesting design decision to hide the connection's address until you send them an email. It at least notifies the recipient that you now know their address. And the recipient gets the sender's address in exchange. It shows that Google has some concern for privacy here… but does it actually do anything? Why hide the addresses in the first place?
> Interesting design decision to hide the connection's address until you send them an email.
That's not what the article says. It says that it hides your email address until you send the connection an email (and, conversely, hides the connections email address until they send you an email):
Quote: The good news is that your email address isn’t visible to a Google+ connection unless you send him or her an email. The reverse is also true: his or her email address isn’t visible to you unless he or she sends you an email.
I'm not sure what you're talking about. When I start typing into the "to" field in Gmail, it drops down with people matching the name or email address that I'm typing in. I can then choose from that list auto-complete that address.
This is just going to add in the ability to do this with your G+ contacts as well.
If someone has a restraining order against you, you probably shouldn't have them in your circles in the first place (you also should pay attention to who you send emails to, either way).
I wonder how it interacts with "undo send" …