Google Buzz features mentioned in the FTC complaint were similar to those that caused the social network to make significant privacy changes just four days after launch and resulted in a class action lawsuit that was settled for $8.5 million.
Many Gmail users were concerned about the public disclosure of their email contacts that resulted from the product’s auto-follow feature and confusing opt-in policy.
Google’s own privacy statement at the time said, "When you sign up for a particular service that requires registration, we ask you to provide perso nal information. If we use this information in a manner different than the purpose for which it was collected, then we will ask for your consent prior to such use."
The FTC found that Google violated this policy by misrepresenting its opt-out option. Even those users who responded that they didn’t want to use the service or used a “turn off Buzz” option were enrolled in some features of the social network.
Similarly, a “How do you want to appear to others?” section falsely indicated that consumers could control what information was shared when the auto-follow otion made their contacts public by default.
More to come…
More About: FTC, Google, google buzz, privacy
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