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I confirm this as well.

Same thing happened to me - but I got a notification. Then changed it right back again.

They did this a couple of days ago; I think I noticed it on Saturday...

I'm willing to bet most news agencies/blogs sat on it until today to reach a more people.

Happened to me and my gf as well.. I can't make up my mind if this was meant for better privacy (by hiding our real email address).

I think it helps more people than it hurts though.

In what way?

By protecting their "private" data, that is, hiding their email address. For public profiles that is.

I'm not 100% certain on this but I think you could hide your email on your profile already.