It’s official, Google is really sorry for not knowing that people value their privacy, an issue that has plagued them for quite some time, and one that people are no longer putting up with.
If it wasn’t Google Street View taking pictures of me in my underwear, it is Google Buzz sending out all my personal info to the copious amounts of mass murders and stalkers that I have on my Gmail email list (you know who you are!). But don’t worry everyone, Google has responded to these privacy concerns with an apologetic message, “We have heard your [the public’s] concerns, and we want to assure you that we understand where you’re coming from and we know where you live.”
For those who haven’t heard, I reported last week on the release of Google’s attempt at social networking supremacy; Google Buzz, a Gmail-based Twitter-esque system that allows users to easily and efficiently share info, updates, links, and photos with everyone on their email list. The issue, however, was that Buzz automatically generated a contact list based on your current email list, and subsequently, your private profile information, by default, was shared with everyone on it, under the dubious assumption that everyone on your email list would be someone you want to stay constantly connected with.
Not only that, but users found it difficult to opt-out of the default settings, and many found that even after they thought they had blocked particular people, those people still had access to updates and information.
But this past week Google responded to these complaints, and quickly implemented a few changes. First, the opt-out options will be easier for users to see during the setup process, as well as the feature that automatically showed you as being ‘online’ to everyone on your list (that’ll help me avoid my stalkers). Second, it will now be easy to block unwanted people from following you or reading about the mundane happenings of your everyday existence.
However, as TechNewsWorld has reported, this simply isn’t enough for many privacy groups. “As much as Google would like to call the whole thing a mulligan and move on, some privacy advocates aren’t satisfied. EPIC has filed a complaint with the FTC urging it to require Google to make every little part of Buzz a thoroughly opt-in process — nothing happens unless and until the user says so. Also, no more using Gmailers’ address books to compile buddy lists.” Further, several class-action suits have been filed by disgruntled users on behalf of all Gmail users, presumably for having their whereabouts or statuses revealed to their mothers.
While I certainly agree that an opt-in process is always the best, I think that Google has simply made too many mistakes already to salvage Buzz from the garbage bin.
As a corporation that’s looking to take over the world, Google has continued to struggle to mollify the common folk with constant issues over their privacy. But with Google it’s more than just the fact that they constantly trample over privacy concerns, it’s the fact that they don’t seem to know what the word even means. Like a page out of The Simpsons, where Mr. Burns struggled to understand the word ‘recycling,’ a Google spokesperson was recently overheard saying, “Pri-va-cee?? I’m afraid. I’m not familiar with that term, you adorable little ragamuffin…”
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Written by: Matt Klassen. www.digitcom.ca >. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com > by: RSS >, Twitter >, Identi.ca >, or Friendfeed >
