Enbeeone3 : A Freelancer

Google Buzz ‘auto-follow’ feature violates Gmail privacy

by enbeeone3 on 15/02/10 at 12:32 am

Google recently released Buzz, the company’s foray into the social networking world of microblogging. The service competes with other social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Upon release, Buzz has been getting some criticism over its default privacy settings.

Google launched Buzz last Tuesday to the public after its announcement. The new service piggybacks off Gmail automatically so users do not have to update their email account. According to USA Today, Buzz has been receiving harsh criticism over its default privacy settings as it taps into your Gmail contacts list.

This integration was done for the most part under the radar causing many to raise concerns over the way it was implemented. Buzz leeches off your contacts list by auto-following those who you may email frequently with. This is similar to Twitter where users can follow someone.

The controversy is around the “auto-follow” feature that automatically links those who you email frequently with in your Gmail account to Buzz. When posting something onto Buzz everyone can see who is following you. Basically this allows strangers to see who you email with frequently.

The problem is that most people don’t want the world to know who they email frequently with. Google attempted to rectify the problem by revising the privacy settings so that users have to jump through a few more hoops before being able to post. Some critics have even asked Google to completely disable the “auto-follow” feature from their Gmail accounts as they feel it violates their email privacy.

Buzz is definitely a brilliant idea as it seamlessly provides a new service without having the users sign up for something new. This pretty much tackles the main entry barrier for most users. However, Google will need to be extra careful since the way Buzz is implemented into Gmail could potentially be a nightmare when dealing with hackers and spammers.