[jtm45]

This sparked an idea for me that I think I'll implement going forward - if you sign up with your email address and password, my server will try to login to your email account with those credentials, and if successful, say something like "hey, did you see that email [snippet of first email in inbox]". I feel this might encourage the user to use a different password.

[sporksmith]

Ha! Clever idea, but I hope you're not serious :). The most likely result would be infuriated users, and quite possibly lawsuits.

[sp332]

Reading someone's email without permission is a crime. Nice idea though :)

[justjohn]

You just have to add a clause to the TOS, nobody reads it anyway so you could grant yourself a licence to do anything with their email!

[ken]

Add some fine print in the user agreement, "During sign-up (only) for service X, I hereby authorize web service X to open my inbox and read one (1) email message, if I choose to provide my email account's password as my password for website X."

No longer a federal crime, maybe? Probably still get an angry mob with pitchforks outside your window.