And, Of Course, Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Google Over Buzz

from the proof-of-harm? dept

I definitely agreed with others that Google's failure to realize the potential privacy problems of automating followers based on who you talk to the most -- and then making that info public -- was a privacy mistake, but is it worth a class action lawsuit? To lawyers, of course it is. These days, if you do anything that people don't like, you can pretty much expect a class action lawsuit that really serves only one purpose: to enrich the lawyers bringing the class action lawsuit. So, it comes as no surprise that a class action lawsuit have been filed against Google for the Buzz privacy mishap. But, really, is this necessary? The company quickly admitted it had made a mistake and changed things. At this point, what good does a class action lawsuit do? It's not like the company hid something bad and tried to avoid taking responsibility for it. Class action lawsuits can have real value, but in this case, it's a pure money grab.

Filed Under: class action, google buzz, privacy
Companies: google

Missed Use Case? Google Buzz Reveals Who You Chat With The Most To Everyone

from the that's-not-good dept

There's certainly been a lot of "buzz" (har har) about Google Buzz, which, frankly, is a bit baffling (hence us not writing about it earlier). It looks like Google's latest attempt to be Facebook/Twitter. Sorta. That said, Nicholas Carlson found a rather scary privacy flaw in the way it's set up. In order to jumpstart things, Google automatically sets you up with followers based on people you frequently communicate with via Gmail or Gtalk. And that info is public. As Carlson notes, especially as a reporter, keeping some of his sources private is really, really important. And Google just revealed them to the world. This seems like a case of the folks at Google not thinking through the implications of this.

Filed Under: google buzz, privacy
Companies: google