FTC urged to probe Google Buzz

US lawmakers might investigate privacy concerns

[tangor]

US lawmakers are calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to probe privacy complaints about Google's Buzz, following a tirade of grumbles that greeted the creepy injection of the real-time Twitterbookish tech into Gmail in February this year.

On 25 March, 11 American lawmakers from the House of Energy and Commerce Committee penned a letter (link courtesy of Paid Content) to FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz, asking his office to investigate allegations that Google revealed personal details of its users without first securing their consent.

As reported at The Register: [theregister.co.uk...]

This, and the recent report of an EU filing regarding Google's "bundling" seems to indicate the search giant has gained more attention from lawmakers. See: [webmasterworld.com...]

[J_RaD]

investigate allegations that Google revealed personal details of its users without first securing their consent

what is to investigate, that is exactly what they did.

in fact they did more then that, even if you flat out said NO I DON'T WANT IT... you got it anyway.

[tangor]

A few searches and reads suggests this might have long legs. Could be imporatant

[tangor]

More info...

Google is trying its best to ward off privacy watchdogs by asking Buzz users to hit rewind on the creepy real-time service.

The company, keen to be seen to be doing the right thing, is asking users to reconfirm their privacy settings - to make sure that they’re not spooked by the level of information they're giving away.

Google aggressively slotted Buzz into Gmail earlier this year. Within hours of Buzz’s unholy arrival, the ad broker was shot to pieces by angry users for its ungraceful efforts to turn a free online email service into something more akin to Twitter and Facebook.

[theregister.co.uk...]