Google Buzz: A privacy nightmare

14 years ago

I can't see a single use for Google Buzz.
It's something that they built just because they could.

It's just a personal clone of twitter that you can spam your friends with.
What the HELL were they thinking?

Eric G.

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Paul Myers 14 years ago

Eric,

They were thinking: "If we don't get into the social networking game, those sites are going to start selling ads and eat AdWords for lunch."

What is Google's big revenue source, again?

Enter Facebook Ads...

Paul
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Eric Graudins

14 years ago

Probably true Paul, and they've got to be worried about Facebook ads.

Google would slap ads onto a turd if they could get some revenue from it.
But I think that Buzz is a stinker that will get them a load of bad karma when people wake up to it.

Eric G.

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garyfromdurham 14 years ago

Paul

Thanks for posting that link.

I am an idiot and saw the Buzz ad when I logged into google but just ignored it. It didn't interest me and I didn't have time to learn what it did.

Now I am going to make time as it seems very intrusive and could cause a whole host of problems.

Thanks for the wake up call.

Gary
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System Wide Solutions 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Eric Graudins

...Google would slap ads onto a turd if they could...
Eric G.

They just did. =)
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- Eric Graudins 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by ThePassiveIncomeBlog
  
  They just did. =)
  
  No ads in my buzz yet.
  But no doubt there will be.
  I believe they're still working on making their logo stick
  
  cheers,
  Eric G.
  
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  Martin Luxton 14 years ago
  
  Paul,
  
  An evil thought.
  
  Create gmail accounts with names like Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Ed Gein, Son of Sam, Aileen Wuornos and start following your local congressman or senator.
  
  Politicians might start taking this seriously when they get regular notifications like "Ted Bundy is now following you."
  
  Martin
  
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  Paul Myers 14 years ago
  
  Martin,
  
  That's not evil. That's doing your civic duty.
  
  What I want to know is, when did "Don't be evil" take on the meaning, "Make everything opt-out," or "We know better than our customers what they should want?"
  
  Even without considering the privacy issues mentioned in that blog entry, this thing is so wildly abusable it's ... I don't even want to go there. This is vile.
  
  Paul
  
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  xiaophil 14 years ago
  
  Don't Panic!
  
  There is finally a way to opt out:
  
  YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.
  
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  sbucciarel Banned 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by xiaophil
  
  Don't Panic!
  
  There is finally a way to opt out:
  
  YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.
  
  Could someone translate this video for those of us on dialup?
  
  Thanks
  
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  Paul Myers 14 years ago
  
  Suzanne,
  
  Could someone translate this video for those of us on dialup?
  
  To opt-out of having every detail of your life shared by Google with anyone who wants it, all you have to do is move to their 22-acre warehouse.
  
  I'll leave the rest for the folks who can see it. It's very funny stuff. But you get the idea...
  
  Paul
  
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bgmacaw 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Eric Graudins

Google would slap ads onto a turd if they could get some revenue from it.

YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.
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Kezz

14 years ago

Geeze....and I was annoyed by the auto follow thing. I didn't even consider a scenario where a person who is a threat gets access to their victim's whereabouts again. That's terrible.

Hmmm....Google....can you say "gross negligence"????

Bad BAD move from the big G.

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Fernando Veloso

14 years ago

Just Opt-OUT from that thing:

Login to your GMAIL account, go bottom (real bottom, small print), find "turn off buzz" and just hit it.

Bye Bye BUZZ privacy nightmare.

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Paul Myers 14 years ago

Fernando,

Just Opt-OUT from that thing:

Wrong.

Read the comments. It's not anything like that simple.

Paul
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System Wide Solutions

14 years ago

you know.... i swear they're trying to go down in a fiery lawsuit the more i think about this... lol.

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JayXtreme

14 years ago

Epic phail from Google...

Is it really that difficult for them to show some restraint when jumping onto trends like this?

Have they no concept of testing?... risk evaluation?..

: sigh :

Peace

Jay

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Robert Puddy

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Paul Myers

Protected Blog Login

Not safe for work. And very NOT funny. (The TinyURL link is there because the URL contains a word that would get auto-changed by the board software.)

Make sure to read the comments...

Paul

The blog asks me for a login so i cant read it

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Eric Graudins

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Paul Myers

Protected Blog Login

Not safe for work. And very NOT funny. (The TinyURL link is there because the URL contains a word that would get auto-changed by the board software.)

Unfortunately this site now requires login to access.

But it was about a woman whose GMail address and details of her new boyfriend became available to a former partner, whom she did not want in her life any more.
And the comments were a scathing indictment of what over 200 people thought of Google Buzz.

cheers,
Eric G.

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xiaophil

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Robert Puddy

The blog asks me for a login so i cant read it

The issue in a nutshell - quoted from the original blog post:

I use my private Gmail account to email my boyfriend and my mother.

There's a BIG drop-off between them and my other "most frequent" contacts.

You know who my third most frequent contact is?

My abusive ex-husband.

Which is why it's SO EXCITING, Google, that you AUTOMATICALLY allowed all my most frequent contacts access to my Reader, including all the comments I've made on Reader items, usually shared with my boyfriend, who I had NO REASON to hide my current location or workplace from, and never did.

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fredjr1978 14 years ago

Well people, cant you see that Google is trying its best to make them selves a one stop shop for everyone making most if not ALL their services free for everyone. This entices and causes people to be very independent on "one basket" and not really paying attention to what you may be agreeing to in doing so.
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Paul Myers 14 years ago

She must have realized she was getting a lot of referral traffic. Or maybe WordPress did it. I'm not sure why it was changed.

The original post was about a woman whose abusive ex-husband was automatically added to the list of followers of her Reader page, because he was a "frequent contact" in her Gmail account. This created predictable problems.

Her blog also talks about rape, and she got frequent comments from men who were less than friendly to her message. Since the anonymous address she used for the blog was forwarded to her Gmail account, they, too, got added to her Reader page's "friends" list automatically.

People commenting on the problems the new system creates mentioned Iraqi dissidents being exposed due to their communications links, reporters' sources being outed when their connections were made public, employers finding out things about staff that were not supposed to be public, and other unpleasant leaks of private information.

Simply skipping ("opting out") of Buzz when you log into your Gmail account is NOT enough. If you do that, thinking you're okay, you could be looking at big trouble in little China. If you have a reader page, the standard settings will make that available to all your "frequent" contacts through Gmail. I guess Google gets to decide what "frequent" means.

To exercise any control over this stuff, you actually have to create a Buzz account, and carefully go through all the settings to make sure there are no leaks. Then disconnect everything from that account and set phasers to ignore.

That last part is made up, of course. I forget the last step. (Anyone remember it?)

Nasty. The Big G is looking at some nasty potential problems from this. Not as nasty as an abusive ex-husband finding out where you live and work, and your new boyfriend's name, but problematic nonetheless.

I hope they get roasted over this.

Paul
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MJ Sterling

14 years ago

Here is the blog article, no log in needed

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Paul Myers

14 years ago

Here is the blog article, no log in needed

Note that the comments there are from Gizmodo users - NOT the visitors to the original blog entry.

Gizmodo users tend to be the same sort of "Technology is God" types that created the problem in the first place. And there is a disturbingly high proportion of misanthropes and misogynists among such audiences.

Paul

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MJ Sterling

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Paul Myers

Note that the comments there are from Gizmodo users - NOT the visitors to the original blog entry.

Gizmodo users tend to be the same sort of "Technology is God" types that created the problem in the first place. And there is a disturbingly high proportion of misanthropes and misogynists among such audiences.

Paul

It's the only place I could find a repost of the article, if you can find it somewhere else I won't complain about you editing the link I posted.

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Killer Joe 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Paul Myers

And there is a disturbingly high proportion of misanthropes and misogynists among such audiences.

Paul,

You're really taxing my 5th grade reading skills.

Any way you could change that to 'bad guys' and 'more bad guys' :confused:

Just askin'

KJ
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- Heidi White 14 years ago
  
  Here's PCWorld's take on Google Buzz:
  
  How to Use Google Buzz - PCWorld
  
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jaiganeshv

14 years ago

This is one waste of a thing that makes gmail slower. I'm afraid to click the Buzz tab, i don't want to waste time in those useless stuff. it adds unwanted load to our account..

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Paul Myers

14 years ago

Or have I missed an important detail?

Umm... Yeah. You are faced with the default choice of "Everyone knows it" or "Don't tell anyone at all." And that's imposed by a third party, without any sort of proper disclosure, AFTER you've already posted stuff thinking it was a controlled setting.

Sort of like recording everything you've ever said in a semi-public place (say, a doctor's office), even though it was quiet and kept to a private conversation, and making all those comments available to every person you know.

Paul

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Paul Myers 14 years ago

Mike,

Yeah, if you opted to create a Buzz account. If you didn't, at least in earlier incarnations, this is what it did. And even if you create the account, you have to be very aware of every setting. The rational default assumptions are dangerous here.

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Steven Wagenheim 14 years ago

Paul, all I'm getting is a WordPress login page.

Am I missing something? :confused:
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- R Hagel 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim
  
  Paul, all I'm getting is a WordPress login page.
  
  Am I missing something? :confused:
  
  Read the replies -- there's a summary of the original blog article and it's comments, plus a link to a different blog carrying the original post.
  
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  Steven Wagenheim 14 years ago
  
  Well, why am I not surprised by any of this?
  
  Just unreal.
  
  I mean what else is there to say? Google is about the only entity that can
  leave me speechless.
  
  As Paul said, I hope they get what's coming to them.
  
  Makes me almost want to cancel my Adsense account.
  
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Paul Myers 14 years ago

If it is only the above, I don't see the problem. Your private data should not be on public profiles anyway.

[sigh] I bemoan the loss of discretion among the populace...

Consider a different example. Say I have a site or page that's about my personal life, where I carried on conversations with family and friends. Suppose Allen could create a widget that found that, and automatically connected it to every single person who had ever sent me a PM or replied to one of my posts, so they were automatically updated on changes to it.

No, "Do you mind?" Nothing. Just did it. And suppose it also allowed for someone to automatically follow all those people I spoke with there.

That's just the tip of this iceberg. Go read some of the articles Mike Oksa linked to.

Paul
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Michael Oksa

14 years ago

Welcome To My Nightmare.

Just a few articles of interest in regards to the Great Google Debacle of 2010.

Nice rant here. Google Buzz: Privacy nightmare | Molly Rants - CNET News

And, even after Google made "changes"... Google Buzz Still Has Major Privacy Flaw

Step by step guide to getting rid of this j-u-n-k. Buzz off: Disabling Google Buzz | Webware - CNET

Google May Offer Buzz Independently From Gmail - That's all well and good, but doesn't mean diddly squat if they still have the same privacy issues and opt-out policies.

All the best,
Michael

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Chad Eljisr

14 years ago

I learned about Google Buzz having a huge privacy flaw here WARNING: Google Buzz Has A Huge Privacy Flaw ... and I de-activated Google Buzz following the instructions in that link... Really freaky...

Chad

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Nick Brighton

14 years ago

Google creates Sidebar wiki = epic fail and infringement
Google creates Buzz = epic fail and infringement
Google bites the hand that feeds = Google shrinks.

I am another victim of my Adwords acc being shut down after spending thousands on PPC over the years. The reason? Nothing specific...I read the email thoroughly.

Point being...with their advertising becoming less effective, their treatment of their advertisers (aka customers) being publically shameful, their terrible infringements on the people who helped grow their empire (aka searchers), is Google really the Lion in the jungle anymore?

With so many better/cheaper services out there, I am inclined to think not. But hey, that will al change when they buy Facebook, Hotmail and Twitter...or any other "threat".

I can almost see the clock ticking.

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Paul Myers 14 years ago

Nick,

Don't forget their "MySpace Killer," Orkut.

Anyone remember that waste of programming?

Paul
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Frank Donovan

14 years ago

If you're using GMail, you already know that Google are analysing the content of your emails in order to serve you up adverts based on your private conversations. Apparently, marketers are okay with this.

Privacy in emails is often compared with sending postcards through the mail. Using GMail is more akin to communicating via billboard.

The trend in search is away from traditional SEs and toward the social marketing sites - using recommendations from Facebook friends, for example. Indeed, Twitter is now effectively a search engine itself. And FB advertising is more tightly focused and potentially better targeted than Adwords can ever hope to be in its existing set-up.

Google Buzz is a clumsy and evidently ill-thought-out attempt to gatecrash this SM party, but it shows the direction Google believe they have to take. However, with 350M+ established FB users, it's going to be a tough tussle to wrestle enough users away.

Playing catch-up, as Google is being forced to do, often entails cutting corners and can lead to slapdash implementation. A major acquisition is probably their best bet.

Frank

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Killer Joe

14 years ago

Originally Posted by ProductCreator

What they are doing is no different to the way your web page content is quickly scanned to create Adsense ads.

It is not read by a human, just analysed by an algorithm. I don't see any privacy concerns here.

Really, you don't see any difference between a company creating a profile of your public content versus your private content?

I'm guessing you haven't spent very much time thinking about the ramifications to make that kind of statement.

KJ

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Killer Joe

14 years ago

Originally Posted by ProductCreator

Explain please what you mean by a profile? If you mean the Google profile then this has nothing to do with serving ads during your email experience.

If you mean to use the word in a more generic sense, I still don't see exactly what you're describing. A "profile" can mean anything unless you qualify it.

Yes, ads can be generated based on either public or private content. No human goes through your private emails to generate these ads. The advertisers do not get to read your private emails. The algorithm to generate Adsense ads also does not require pages of content or your entire emails to be sent elsewhere (if they did, it would double the bandwidth immediately) so there is no security risk there.

Hi PC,

What you may not be aware of is how your information is gathered to create a profile of your mental activities.

Every action you take using Google's resources is used to create a profile that catagorizes you to some extent.

Perhaps you missed a very high profile case (that word again) where a young man claimed he and his wife were shot on the beach, killing his wife, and wounding him in the chest.

His Google profile was subpoenaed by law enforcement agencies in an effort to get to the truth about the young mans' story.

It was found he had been online searching for areas of the body that could withstand a gunshot wound without causing a fatality. He wanted to see which part of his chest a bullet could pass through without killing him.

When this 'profile' of his searches became part of the court records he was convicted and got what he deserved. Based on his online activities his intentions became obvious. I don't remember if he had a Gmail account, but that would have been included most assuredly.

What I'm alluding to here, is that if you think your interactions with Google occur in a privacy vacuum you are dead wrong. Every interaction with Google is added to your profile.

When you used the phrase "I don't see any privacy concerns here", it made me wonder if you are even aware that all of the records Google has on you can be used against you in a court of law if the authorities, rightly or wrongly, deem that what Google possesses about you should become part of the public record.

Based on your subsequent post I think my first assessment was correct.

KJ

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KenThompson 14 years ago

All this doesn't surprise me at all. I've read a lot of things about G
over the years including speculations and predictions about where
they're going, etc.

Re the guy who was indicted for killing his wife based on evidence
from G's profile...

If things get any more paranoid in this country...

Imagine being investigated by the feds, and they find something you
searched for on G that is illegal. Let's say you read something on a
topic that has illegal uses, or implications. Maybe you're just curious
about it, as I often am, and you want to just read about it.

Well, good luck explaining that to the feds.

"I was just curious."

"Really?"

"Yes! Really!"

You're screwed.

All this is just way, way out of hand. It's only gonna get worse. That's
my prediction, folks.

I read something about how the fed alphabets are working on building
profiles for everyone. All of us. Wouldn't be hard to do with G's help.

But why would "they" want a profile about you? A psychological profile,
personal habits, spending habits, fill-in-the-blank habits. Everything.

It's an ancient tactic to know as much as possible about your enemy. The
more you know, the more leverage and implicit power you have.

I've been a student of 'conspiracy theory' stuff for a very long time. Why?
Because I want to know what's possible, what may have happened and
why, etc. I don't believe everything I read. Most of it I have no way of
proving, or knowing the real facts about.

But if there's one thing I believe with all my heart is that I will never put
anything past any gov't. Nothing. Not ever.

But that doesn't mean we should live in fear, either. That is perhaps the
most powerful weapon of any adversary, or potential adversary. It's a
brilliant strategic leverage tactic.

Win a war without ever firing a shot.

Guess that's all I have to say other than truth is the seat of all power.

I don't say these things because I think you're unaware. You're all bright and
informed people, and I have respect for you even if I don't say a helluva lot
on most occasions.

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Killer Joe 14 years ago

Originally Posted by ProductCreator

Therefore, I still don't feel that your initial assessment was correct! We'll have to agree to disagree on this one!

Chris,

Considering the additional time you've spent here on this issue perhaps I will need to concede...

But let me address this statement you made...

"I believe people should not be concerned with ads served on email, I see no risk whatsoever unless someone can explain to the contrary."

Suppose you start a conversation with a friend and both of you are emailing back and forth about a given topic. Should that topic begin to appear as ads served up by Google in your email then you could rightly assume that the topic you are discussing has been given a certain weight or importance by Google and its algorithm.

Now suppose you are on one side of a topic and your friend is on the other side of the topic, yet you are receiving ads that support a topic you disagree with. For the sake of discussion, and to try to keep this from getting hijacked due to using an overly emotional issue, we'll use a topic that is banned by Google...smoking cigarettes.

So your friend loves to smoke, and you think it is the worst thing to happen to humanity since Cain and Able had to father children without the benefit of having a 'girl next door'.

Now ads for cigarettes start appearing in your email even though you detest their very presence. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

You have now been catagorized as someone who supports a given issue, in this case cigarette smoking, but remember it could be an issue that is real and has real world consequences unlike the example I'm using.

What you have just surrendered is control over your conversations to some degree whereby a third party can now interject their message on par with yours for the sake of them turning a profit. We're not talking about general advertising where the message is completely randomly generated, we're talking about topic specific ads that show a deliberate intrusion into your private conversations.

And yes, the same algorithm that it used to serve up the ads is the same algorithm that can be used to deny you insurance coverage if you told your insurance company you don't smoke but were nonetheless placed in that catagory until you can prove otherwise.

Now I know that last paragraph will have some folks scratching their heads saying that will never happen, but the reality is that the databases being built up are becoming more and more intrusive, and ever widening in scope.

The time to stop a leaky pipe is the minute you spot the leak. Not after your basement is full of water. There's another statement that will cause some more head scratching, no doubt...

KJ
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Paul Myers

14 years ago

Maybe on a global basis but in Brazil and India it is very popular. Not quite a waste, with over 100m users

I'd forgotten about that part of the market. Good point, and thanks for the correction.

I don't think that was planned, though. Orkut was going to be the new Big Boy in the social networking sphere. Google just sucks at it.

Paul

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Tina Golden 14 years ago

I agree that Google does get a lot right - I like a lot of their offerings. However, the biggest thing that they are getting wrong a LOT lately is that they add these new things and then you have to opt-out of them.

Shouldn't that be the other way around?

Until Paul posted this, I thought I had the option to sign up for Buzz. I had seen an ad for it when logging into my account and hit the no thanks button. Yet it was activated anyway.

When email marketers do this, it's called spam.

Tina
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Paul Myers

14 years ago

It seems to me that people are as objective about Google as they are about Microsoft or Apple

I am. I have PCs, a Mac, and will be installing Linux on at least one more machine later today. I started on the Amiga, which was the best OS I've used yet, and the rest are just like using different parts of what I'm still familiar with.

As far as Google, you apparently don't get my newsletter. I did a piece on conspiracy theories a while back, and used Google as the example of why they're usually wrong.

Google does a lot of things right. Social networking is not among them. Nor is properly respecting privacy, but that's part of their modus operandi.

Paul

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psresearch

14 years ago

Originally Posted by ProductCreator

I do sometimes wonder if they are in league with intelligence agencies to share their entire database of user searches (linked to IP).

Can you imagine if this actually happened or is already happening? Brings another meaning to the word "mind map"

You mean like working with the National Security Agency or something crazy like that. Will never happen...oh, wait...
Google asks the NSA for help: Smart decision | ZDNet Government | ZDNet.com

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Loren Woirhaye 14 years ago

Here's the link again, for people who are getting the WP-login
screen:F*ck You, Google - Bad Valentine - Gizmodo
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Lisa Gergets

14 years ago

Jesus, this makes me want to eschew all things Google. I don't use Adsense as it is, but this makes me want to get rid of all my gmail accounts as well.

God what an undertaking that would be.

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dougp 14 years ago

Gmail is a free service, and you agree to a bunch of stipulations when you accept their terms and conditions. A quick solution is to use an email address hosted on your server. Google Buzz had privacy issues written all over it. Most email addresses that you get for free invade your privacy in one way or the other, as the companies behind it have to make a profit.

Doug
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sbucciarel

Banned 14 years ago

It's actually pretty simple to get rid of Buzz. I had a Google profile and I deleted it. Then went to Gmail and turned off Buzz. Problem solved, for me at least.

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Mr. Enthusiastic

14 years ago

Thanks for the active discussion. I'm appalled at Google's assumption that discarding a user's privacy is a favor to the user.

Can someone please summarize, step by step, what steps to take for a Google account that's been inactive while Buzz launched?

I have a Google email I've not used for a while. When I get back to it, do I have to specifically do something to prohibit Buzz? Or if I never click on Buzz while logged in, and never use Google Reader, will Buzz never take any action on this account?

Or is Buzz automatically turned on for existing accounts? And is it automatically turned on for all newly created Google accounts?

Chris

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jasondinner

14 years ago

Damn Paul,

I really wanted to see what was on the other end of that link in your OP, but it's not letting me login with my WP details.

Is there another way to see that site without having to enter in login info?

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Mr. Enthusiastic

14 years ago

Chris K, do I only get a profile if I turn on Buzz? Just having an existing Google account doesn't mean I get a Buzz profile automatically?

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TheRichJerksNet

14 years ago

Exactly why google is Evil and I personally have no use for none of their tools.. Ok I post a few videos on YoulessTube ...

They are still evil and I have no interest in using any tools they offer, even if I do get so-called free adword credits.

James

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JohnMcCabe 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Killer Joe

Paul,

You're really taxing my 5th grade reading skills.

Any way you could change that to 'bad guys' and 'more bad guys' :confused:

Just askin'

KJ

KJ (and anyone curious), if you haven't had time to look them up yet, try substituting 'man-hater' and 'woman-hater', respectively.

As far as the privacy issue goes, I view Google the same way I do a picture window - if I don't want the neighbors to know what I'm doing, I don't do it in front of an exposed window with the blinds up.

Most of what I do online would bore the bejeezus out of most parties, anyway. I do use Google Reader for following a variety of blogs and RSS feeds, but none I care whether people know I read them or not. I use Gmail, but almost exclusively for business, and even then I have private accounts for sensitive information.

Like the old saying goes, "people in glass houses...shouldn't."
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Jason Moffatt

14 years ago

Sure glad I live my life in the open for all to see. If you want privacy, I'd suggest getting off the internet.

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https://www.jasonmoffatt.com

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Mr. Enthusiastic

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Jason Moffatt

Sure glad I live my life in the open for all to see. If you want privacy, I'd suggest getting off the internet.

Jason, there are several excellent reasons for people to want privacy online:

* Escaped from crazy, violent ex-spouse or other stalker, and don't want that person to know how to find them.

* Whistleblower who's a source for journalists exposing corruption in a business. Could lose their job, or worse, if their contact information is exposed.

* Protester getting the word out about evils done by a totalitarian government. Could lose their freedom, or their life, if their contact information is exposed.

* Simply prefer to have different circles of friends or business acquaintances who are not invited to all meet each other. Could be embarrassed or simply inconvenienced if contact information is shared without their consent.

* Informant to investigators or prosecutors working to break up an illegal ring of some kind. Could have family members kidnapped or killed if their contact information is exposed.

* Friendly to both sides of a bitter divorce, business breakup or other falling-out. No need for each side to be given details of the contact with the other side.

* Simply prefers that their "persons, houses, papers, and effects" (as the U.S. 4th Amendment puts it) are their own to keep behind locked doors.

I think it's fine for someone to choose to live life publicly, as you do, and it's also fine for someone to prefer a higher level of privacy - or even need it, for their safety. The point of the thread is that it's not fine for Google to decide to give away this personal, private, confidential contact information, without any explicit consent.

Does that make sense?

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JohnMcCabe

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Mr. Enthusiastic

* Simply prefer to have different circles of friends or business acquaintances who are not invited to all meet each other. Could be embarrassed or simply inconvenienced if contact information is shared without their consent.

I'm not making light of the serious list you posted, but this particular item reminds me of a toast a late friend used to pull out when it was just us guys...

"Here's to our wives and girlfriends - may they never meet!" :p

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Mr. Enthusiastic 14 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

"Here's to our wives and girlfriends - may they never meet!" :p

As I was just sayin'...
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sbucciarel Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Jason Moffatt

Sure glad I live my life in the open for all to see. If you want privacy, I'd suggest getting off the internet.

Yeah. You could also move to where ever in the world all the survivalists live and live off grid. But actually, I don't want to get off the Internet or live off grid, but I do want privacy and I don't want a company auto-following my contacts and making other decisions for me about how I want my information displayed. It's a simple thing for Google to do the right thing, rather than consistently do the wrong thing and permit us to opt in to their programs or choose not to.

I deleted my Google profile and all my gmail contacts so problem is solved for me, but I shouldn't have had to do that. This will be just another of Google's failed launches.
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karlhadwen

14 years ago

Honestly, I just don't see the big fuss for Google Buzz.

I can't see anybody *my age* using it.

Personally I think it would be too complicated for anybody to use.

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WD Mino

14 years ago

I just have it off just like the chat etc though some may call it a conspiracy theory I personally believe google has an eye that is looked to by feds and etc so I keep it rather plain.
-WD

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MJ Sterling

14 years ago

Since most folks missed the link I posted to a non-login version of the article, I'll repost it here so everyone knows what the fuss is about.

I have removed the profanity as best I could without altering the tone of article or breaking forum rules.

F**k You, Google

I use my private Gmail account to email my boyfriend and my mother. There's a BIG drop-off between them and my other "most frequent" contacts. You know who my third most frequent contact is. My abusive ex-husband.

Which is why it's SO EXCITING, Google, that you AUTOMATICALLY allowed all my most frequent contacts access to my Reader, including all the comments I've made on Reader items, usually shared with my boyfriend, who I had NO REASON to hide my current location or workplace from, and never did.

My other most frequent contacts? Other friends of Flint's.

Oh, also, people who email my ANONYMOUS blog account, which gets forwarded to my personal account. They are frequent contacts as well. Most of them, they are nice people. Some of them are probably nice but a little unbalanced and scary. A minority of them - but the minority that emails me the most, thus becoming FREQUENT - are psychotic men who think I deserve to be raped because I keep a blog about how I do not deserve to be raped, and this apparently causes the Hulk rage.

I can't block these people, because I never made a Google profile or Buzz profile, due to privacy concerns (apparently and resoundingly founded!). Which doesn't matter anyway, because every time I do block them, they are following me again in an hour. I'm hoping that they, like me, do not realize and are not intentionally following me, but that's the optimistic half of the glass. My pessimistic half is of the abyss, and it is staring back at you with a redolent stink-eye.

Oh, yes, I suppose I could opt out of Buzz - which I did when it was introduced, though that apparently has no effect on whether or not I am now using Buzz - but as soon as I did that, all sorts of new people were following me on my Reader! People I couldn't block, because I am not on Buzz!

F*k you, Google. My privacy concerns are not trite. They are linked to my actual physical safety, and I will now have to spend the next few days maintaining that safety by continually knocking down followers as they pop up. A few days is how long I expect it will take before you either knock this **** off, or I delete every Google account I have ever had and use Bing out of ****ing spite.

F*k you, Google. You have destroyed over ten years of my goodwill and adoration, just so you could try and out-MySpace MySpace.

Harriet Jacobs is the nom de plume of the author of Fugitivus. She's a mid-twenties white girl living in the Midwest, working at a non-profit that assists families and deals with a lot of racial politics. Harriet has had a ****ed-up life, and Fugitivus
--fugitive--is her space to talk, where the ****ed-up people who did the ****ed-up things couldn't find her and be creepy.

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theemperor

14 years ago

I haven't got time to fart about changing my settings and all that.

I think it is time for me to say Au Revoir ... Google Mail!

Good ol' fashion mail client here I come!.....

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Kat Bartone 14 years ago

Google seems to be responding to the siege of complaints they've received:

Google switches to auto-suggest feature - Feb. 15, 2010

Google Apologizes for Buzz Privacy Issues - PCWorld Business Center

Official Gmail Blog: A new Buzz start-up experience based on your feedback

But the horse is already out of the gate. The damage already done can't be undone.
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sbucciarel

Banned 14 years ago

Well, looks like Buzzzz is getting the attention it deserves.

Privacy group files Buzz complaint with FTC | Deep Tech - CNET News

Google Buzz Privacy Backlash Not Anticipated, Google Says

Google Buzz Privacy Backlash Not Anticipated, Google Says
( Page 1 of 2 )

Google Vice President of Product Management Bradley Horowitz said Google did not expect the negative backlash that befell Google Buzz when it launched Feb. 9. Horowitz acknowledged users were "unhappy," which led Google to work around the clock to address concerns. He said Google is still weighing user feedback, but declined to say what sort of additional changes his team might make to meet user requests. However, more granular privacy controls, such as filters and other features to let users turn off Buzz, are likely in the works. One of those changes could be to create a standalone Buzz product in addition to the current Gmail-based Buzz.

The Google executive overseeing Google Buzz, the product that triggered perhaps the biggest privacy backlash ever against the search engine, said Google did not anticipate the strong protest over user privacy the company faced in the week since Buzz launched.

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Mr. Enthusiastic 14 years ago

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

One of those changes could be to create a standalone Buzz product in addition to the current Gmail-based Buzz.

Thanks for the news update. I think this is what they should have done in the first place. Just like Google doesn't automatically create Google Docs for and you and invite people, but you can turn the feature on if you wish and choose who you invite. Buzz should have worked the same way from the start.

I hope that Google and the whole software industry takes away this lesson from the experience: never, never, never give up your users' data without their explicit consent. If you do, they will fight you on the beaches, they shall fight you in the fields and streets, they shall fight you on the forums and the blogs, until, with the FTC's gracious help, your business is no more.
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macchiavelli

14 years ago

When I click the link I get a WP login page...is that correct?

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Google Buzz: A privacy nightmare

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