Google is to make changes to the privacy settings on its new ‘Buzz’ social network amid concerns over privacy, after it emerged the network creates a profile for new users by drawing on their Gmail contacts. Early users of Google Buzz had complained that they found the settings too complicated, especially the ones that relates […]
Google is to make changes to the privacy settings on its new ‘Buzz’ social network amid concerns over privacy, after it emerged the network creates a profile for new users by drawing on their Gmail contacts.
Early users of Google Buzz had complained that they found the settings too complicated, especially the ones that relates to privacy. Privacy advocacy group the Electronic Privacy Information Centre’s head Marc Rotenberg said he would lodge a complaint on the network’s practices with the US Federal Trade Commission, adding: “People are surprised that Google treated a private [email] contact list as a public ‘friends’ list.”
12/02/2010
In a blog post on Thursday, Google acknowledged that it was difficult to make a user’s list of followers private.
On its Gmail blog, the company said it had “heard from people that the checkbox for choosing not to display this information was too hard to find, and based on this feedback, we’ve changed the notice to make it very clear”.
Meanwhile, Google has acquired Aardvark for a reported $50 million.
Aardvark, a social search provider and question answering service, will be used to bolster the location-based services introduced with Google Buzz.
Aardvark’s search engine scans the profiles of members of the service to help answer topic or location-based questions.
As Aardvark already operates mostly through gChat, and the company was founded by former Googlers.
