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Private Group Complains against Google Buzz
Techtree News Staff, Feb 17, 2010 1449 hrs ISTAccused of using private address book contacts as 'followers' list for Buzz
Google Buzz has been buzzing all over the web due to it's social features. What came along with it were privacy mishaps where contacts were being auto-followed. However, Google fixed the privacy issues later. Now, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Google's failure to protect users' personal data, reported eWeek. Though Google immediately took necessary steps, some amount of damage was already done.
EPIC's complaint urges the FTC to prevent Google from using Gmail users' private address book contacts for creating a list of "followers" for Buzz and to "give Google users meaningful control over their personal data". Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC, in a statement, said, "This is a significant breach of consumer's expectations of privacy. Google should not be allowed to push users' personal information into a social network they never requested."
Google, based on the user feedback or what we know as user privacy protection flaw, had brought up a number of changes in Gmail for making the Buzz service more secure. Google spokesperson responded to EPIC's complaint and said that the company is open to user feedback and is working to address any concerns.
"We designed Buzz to make it easy for users to connect with other people and have conversations about the things that interest them," the spokesperson said. He added, "We've already made a few changes based on user feedback, and we have more improvements in the works. We look forward to hearing more suggestions and will continue to improve the Buzz experience with user transparency and control top of mind."
Whilst the privacy latch was open, spammers made the best of checking out the service and have started attacking Buzz. Patrick Runald, senior manager for security research at Websense Security Labs, pointed out that a spammer is already targetting 237 users with spam content.
Our advice to Buzz users is to ensure that all privacy settings are followed and block the annoying/spamming users. With great power comes great responsibility - rightly said in the Spiderman movie. Real world application comes in where Google has great amount of user data and hence its the company's responsibility to protect it from any evil.
EPIC's complaint urges the FTC to prevent Google from using Gmail users' private address book contacts for creating a list of "followers" for Buzz and to "give Google users meaningful control over their personal data". Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC, in a statement, said, "This is a significant breach of consumer's expectations of privacy. Google should not be allowed to push users' personal information into a social network they never requested."
Google, based on the user feedback or what we know as user privacy protection flaw, had brought up a number of changes in Gmail for making the Buzz service more secure. Google spokesperson responded to EPIC's complaint and said that the company is open to user feedback and is working to address any concerns.
"We designed Buzz to make it easy for users to connect with other people and have conversations about the things that interest them," the spokesperson said. He added, "We've already made a few changes based on user feedback, and we have more improvements in the works. We look forward to hearing more suggestions and will continue to improve the Buzz experience with user transparency and control top of mind."
Whilst the privacy latch was open, spammers made the best of checking out the service and have started attacking Buzz. Patrick Runald, senior manager for security research at Websense Security Labs, pointed out that a spammer is already targetting 237 users with spam content.
Our advice to Buzz users is to ensure that all privacy settings are followed and block the annoying/spamming users. With great power comes great responsibility - rightly said in the Spiderman movie. Real world application comes in where Google has great amount of user data and hence its the company's responsibility to protect it from any evil.
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