Washington
– An online privacy advocacy group on Tuesday filed a complaint with the U.S.
Federal Trade Commission, asking the agency to compel Google (NASD: GOOG) to bolster privacy
protections for Buzz, the new social media features on its Gmail service.
"This
complaint concerns an attempt by Google, Inc., the provider of a widely used
email service, to convert the private, personal information of Gmail
subscribers into public information for the company’s social network service
Google Buzz," reads the complaint from the Electronic Privacy Information
Center (EPIC).
"This change in business practices and service terms
violated user privacy expectations, diminished user privacy, contradicted
Google’s own privacy policy, and may have also violated federal wiretap laws."
Google has already made several changes to the service, following many
complaints on privacy issues.
However, EPIC deemed these changes — such as
moving from an "auto-follow" to "auto-suggest" model for
adding a user’s Gmail contacts to Buzz — to be unsatisfactory.
EPIC believes
that Google should make Buzz completely opt-in, and that Buzz should not have
access to a user’s Gmail contacts.
Related Links:
http://epic.org/privacy/ftc/googlebuzz/Google_Buzz_Press_Release.pdf
(PDF)
