It seems like Google has some poltergeists in its computers, as the company has been suffering from some odd glitches lately. First there was the misidentification of the entire internet as hosts to malware over the weekend. Luckily, Google got that one wrapped up pretty quickly. The latest odd behavior in Google's system started overnight, sending out floods of text messages.

Users can text Google from their mobile devices to access some of the company's services, including an SMS-based system for submitting queries and retrieving search results. The bug started out by sending dozens of text messages to some users who had previously received texts from Google. At first Google directed users to contact their mobile providers. Trying to text "STOP" to Google's system didn't seem to work, as for every message sent out, you'd get eight more sent back to you.

Now it's looking like the culprit was in the aggregation system used by these providers, somehow amplifying the number of Google SMS messages sent through it. It's still not clear why Google's texts in particular triggered this response. It looks like the problem has been resolved by now, at least. If you're not on an unlimited text plan, you may be able to get your provider to wave some of the charges from the excess texts. At twenty cents each, those can really rack up fast. If you're interested in seeing what other users were going through, there's a discussion on the event in Google's help forums.

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