Technology Blog

U.S. Official Blasts Google on Buzz

Citing the recent launch of Google Inc.'s social-networking service, Google Buzz, outgoing Federal Trade Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour said technology companies are setting a dangerous precedent of publicly exposing consumer data, particularly during the rollout of new products.
"Protecting consumer privacy is of utmost importance," Ms. Harbour said during a Federal Trade Commission roundtable discussion about privacy Wednesday. 


 "Unfortunately, many of the companies that consumers look to as leaders—and that we expect to be leaders—still have not taken this message entirely to heart."
The roundtable is the final in a series of discussions the FTC will use to make privacy-related recommendations.
The launch of Google Buzz was "irresponsible conduct" by a company considered "one of the greatest technology leaders of our time," Ms. Harbour said, in making her remarks, which she said are her own and not the views of the FTC.
Ms. Harbour is leaving the FTC April 6.
Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., introduced Google Buzz in February and was met with a wave of privacy complaints. Similar to Twitter and Facebook, Google Buzz allows users to share information, notes and comments with users they are connected to. But, unlike Twitter and Facebook, Google Buzz automatically signed users up to connect with other users based on email and chat contacts in Google's Gmail. It also initially made that list of followers public by default, though Google later changed the service's privacy settings.
Ms. Harbour said social networking was barely a reality when Google introduced its email system and consumers who signed up for the email service likely did not expect that their data would be used for social networking.
When Google introduced a new service, consumers, not the company, should have decided whether or not to sign up for features that could expose their data, she said.
A Google spokesman said in a statement that user transparency and control are "top of mind" for the company. "When we realized that we'd unintentionally made many of our users unhappy, we moved quickly to make significant product improvements to address their concerns," he said.
"Our door is open to additional feedback and we're continuing to make more improvements based on that feedback."

(from internet)