Google backpedals (again) on Buzz privacy For the second time since the launch of Google Buzz last Tuesday, Mountain View has announced changes to its Tweetbookish Gmail add-on in an effort to answer complaints over user privacy. "We've heard your feedback loud and clear, and since we launched Google Buzz four days ago, we've been working around the clock to address …
Never mind that the issue is being auto-opted into this crap by default, without either explicit or implicit permission. Never mind that they've already critically compromised their users' privacy - "over the next couple of weeks" they MIGHT graciously give us some tools to allow _us_ to _maybe_ undo _some_ of the harm that _they've_ caused. Of course, what they COULD do is turn the fucking thing off by default and give use the opportunity to opt in. but that doesn't fit their business model, which is the one familiar to any spammer - opt them into the list and then make them jump through hoops upon hoops to get out, if they can.
BB, though if no-one else is going to, I suggest http://i46.tinypic.com/2l9i4u8.gif.
... Google is doing what people want by listening to their concerns and doing something about it, and doing it quickly I might add.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again: people have a contract with Google, which in this case says that Google offers them a free service, ie. Gmail, and Google can change this service at any time, ie. Buzz.
If people don't like what Google is doing, they can end the contract by deleting their account, or they can raise their concerns with Google. If enough people complain, Google is more than likely to respond by doing something that people want, as is the case here.
Oh, and by the way, I use Gmail (because it is the best in my opinion), and while I have the Buzz feature active, I don't think it will be getting much use from me.
"'We quickly realized that we didn't get everything quite right," Jackson said.
More like got nothing right.
Too fast and loose with privacy; this company knows better and these types of 'mistakes' are about pushing the levels of acceptability in what data they can harvest for free to feed their ad machine.
Goodbye Goolge you are now DNS routed to 127.0.0.1 on all fronts and your services will no longer be used.
More stuff from Google to avoid like the plague!
Would you like Googledesktop - NO would you like Chrome - NO! Would you like Gmail - NO Would you like any other shit we can slip into your PC without you noticing so we can make more money - NO!
Your search engine is OK, but that's it. Google Earth is an amusing distraction for 10 minutes.
That's it! Everything else is pretty redundant IMO.
Interesting: first they had a good run, especially in the years when everyone was properly indoctrinated about about giving up their privacy to fight scary terrorists.
However, in parallel with more and more questions of the acceptability of giving up privacy come more and more questions about Google - a sort of synchronised swimming.
Even the stunt in China fell flat, despite getting some politicians in on the act - the list of deficiencies in explanations versus actual events damaged credibility, not helped by the revelation that the founders would really like to sell some shares.
In the end, it appears sloppiness and not really listening to customers until it's too late appear to present a parallel with Toyota: the shine has come off and reality pokes through.
It's about bloody time.
Absolutely nothin'. I follow mostly (geek) celebs and a couple of mates on Twitter. My friends are nearly all on Facebook where they can post status updates or they email/txt/ring if they want to contact me. I think I only have a few friends witha GMail account. Buzz can't even auto-suggest anyone for me to follow.
from the current kings of auto-erotic tendencies?
I've had a number of gmail accounts for some years, always understanding that using them is like making phone calls when you know the line has been tapped. That is what it is and as such is okay. Just like a real terrorist (or part of the 'takes one to know one' profession) I wouldn't use such for genuinely sensitive communication, but for the rest of it gmail is fine. But this Buzz bizz is the last straw and I'll be migrating the accounts elsewhere soonest.
(nb. do hope it is the last straw, as the world would be a better place without Jack).
The last 2 paragraphs of this article are exactly what Google / Facebook etc want. They are willing to lose a %age of users and have another %age of users restrict info sharing but by and large most people will accept it and that is the data that they want shared as it is valuable to advertisers.
I had a couple of gmail accounts - now deleted them. Google have made too many "mistakes" lately for it to be easily forgiveable; they're either extremely incompetent, in which case I'd rather not trust them with more of my data than I have to, or they know exactly what they're doing and these mistakes are actually quite intentional, in which case I'd rather not trust them...
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