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Google has revolutionised the way that the world searches for information, pornography and Sarah Palin. Now it may have solved a problem that has plagued computer users since the birth of e-mail.

Jon Perlow, one of the search engine's software developers, has come up with an idea that could save millions from the terrible consequences of the drunken e-mail.

The problem became apparent to Mr Perlow after he sent a late-night message to his former girlfriend, telling her that he thought it was time that they renewed their relationship. It did not go down well. Working in his spare time, he wrote a programme designed to act like the responsible friend who confiscates your car keys late in the evening.

The program, which he called Mail Goggles, intercepts e-mails sent using Google's e-mail service, Gmail, after a certain time in the evening. “It's that time of day,” the program says. “Are you sure you want to send this?” It then tries to ascertain whether the writer is drunk by asking five mathematical questions that have to be answered in a limited time.

The Times was unable to test the system yesterday because everyone in the office was, naturally, sober. Nevertheless, many expressed regret that the software had not been developed earlier to save them from themselves.

One woman recalled responding to an invitation to a party from a secret lover, an aspiring politician. In her reply she noted that he had invited his ex-girlfriend, and expressed the sincere hope that she would not attend.

“Of course, instead of hitting reply, I hit reply all,” she said. “I sent the missive not just to my sort-of boyfriend, but to the mother of his child, her new partner, and pretty much the entire membership of the North West Labour Party.”

Another, a student at Birmingham University, confessed to getting “horrifically drunk” two weeks ago with a friend. They decided to “stalk” their former boyfriends via Facebook. This culminated in her sending a “really filthy” e-mail to her ex. “Next morning, I woke up to stern, angry and sympathetic replies from my ex, his new girlfriend and his brother, who I sent it to by accident, respectively.”

As well as the abusers, there were the abused. The chief executive of a large London company told The Times that she received drunken e-mails from her staff at the rate of “one or two every month”.Some are complimentary. “They say, ‘I think you're gorgeous',” she said. “I had one which said, ‘If you ever get fed up with your husband I'm here'.” Others were abusive and occasionally threatening.

“Anyone running a company probably needs to know what the real feeling is,” she said. “Some business leaders go to the staff pub to find out. This is quicker. You could argue that the e-mail goggles are stopping people from saying what they really think.”

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