Google Buzz Drama

...to prospective communities in the US. The latest news is in regards to Google's social media service, 'Buzz'.

If you've been reading SearchNewz then you know the GMail related addition has gotten quite a bit of attention. Some of the coverage being positive, while some have had some serious critiques regarding its implementation. The latest negative coming Buzz's way is from a FTC complaint (PDF), registered by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). These are the kind of critiques you truly take into consideration.

Here's a summary paragraph from the complaint which describes EPIC's beef with Buzz, "The EPIC complaint urges the Trade Commision to require Google to make the Buzz service fully opt-in, to stop using Gmail users' private address book contacts to compile social networking lists, and to give Google users meaningful control over their personal data"

EPIC then goes on to cite a few complaints from GMail users who are in an uproar over their private contacts list being made public. I must admit I didn't even ponder over the privacy issues being raised by EPIC, mostly because my GMail contacts are of a friendly persuasion.

For businesses who use GMail, this problem definitely has the potential to cause harm. If potential clients are able to see who's on a contact list it might steer them away. Or worse, current clients might have problems and take their business elsewhere. These are extreme situations, but you have to wonder if anyone at Google took this into account when developing Buzz.

Google Buzz has been updated twice since its release just over a week ago. I imagine we'll see yet another one coming soon, probably in regards to privacy parameters.

Tag: Google Buzz, Steve Jobs

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