More Changes To Google Buzz
Google late Thursday announced more changes to its troubled new social networking service, Google Buzz. Since its launch last week, Buzz has been criticized for failing to adequately protect user privacy.
In a post on Google's public policy blog, Managing Policy Counsel Pablo Chavez said Google is adding Buzz to the Google Dashboard, a tool that provides information on all users' Google products and provides links to their personal settings. "For Buzz, the Dashboard is another place to see how many people you're following, how many people are following you, and information about your recent posts as well as links to change your Buzz settings," Chavez wrote.
As it is currently configured, a user of Google's Gmail service who does not want to use Buzz, must click on a link to turn off Buzz. They will then be directed to a different page where they can change their settings or click on a link allowing them to disable Buzz. While Google has made it easier to change the privacy settings on Buzz, critics such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center, say users should have to opt-in to using Buzz and not have to opt-out.
EPIC filed a complaint with the FTC earlier this week urging the agency 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," the group said in a news release.
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