Mountain View, California — The launch of Buzz has casted a dark shadow over Google’s several privacy mishaps. User protests and an FTC complaint have compelled Google to give users of its Buzz social messaging service another chance to correct their privacy settings, after the service launched in February with a leaky privacy policy. The search giant on Monday released a privacy upgrade to its Buzz social networking tool, which includes a settings confirmation screen for all users.
Google rolled out Buzz in early February, and the main source of controversy was the exposure of user Gmail contacts, over how much personal information was being made public, the company was compelled to make a number of modifications to Buzz just days after launch, describing more clearly how information was shared, and simplifying the process for blocking or following other users, following a backlash from users worried about privacy intrusions.
In a blog post, Todd Jackson, a Google product manager, apologized for Buzz’s sloppy debut. “Shortly after introducing Google Buzz, we quickly realized we did not get everything in order and moved as fast as possible to improve the Buzz experience.”
“We made a number of modifications to the getting started experience based on your feedback, the most significant of which was replacing auto-following with suggestions for people to follow,” Jackson wrote.
He then described the modifications made to enhance the Buzz experience: “Rather than automatically setting you up to follow the people you e-mail and chat with most, Google Buzz now indicates people for you to follow instead. This way, Buzz is still simple to set up, but you are not set up to follow anyone until you choose to do so,” Jackson wrote.
The image of Google Buzz has been marred by complaints over privacy. However, for those who have been Buzzing already, Google has utilized a pop-up screen that will show up the next time you log in, asking you to double-check your privacy settings.
The current tweaks will also display every aspect of a user’s profile, from public settings to the websites users are connected to, and who they are following or being followed by. You can “choose whether you want [follower] lists appearing on your public Google profile, and modify any of the sites you have connected to Google Buzz, like Picasa, Google Reader, or Twitter.” No worries if you do not make the right decisions immediately; you can always fiddle with your settings later.
“Offering everyone who uses our products transparency and control is very significant to us, so if you began using Google Buzz before we changed the start-up experience, you will see a verification page the next time you click into the Buzz tab.”
Users who embraced Google Buzz early can already disable the feature in question by going to Gmail > Settings > Buzz, or can wait for the pop-up screen to appear on the service at some point today.
The roll out will be in phases, so not all users will see this confirmation page immediately, Google said.
Also, the screenshot above contains a link to a video about Google Buzz, a list of people you follow with an “unfollow” link next to each one should you choose to drop them, the number of people following you – also with a view and edit link, a notice that says whether or not this information is displayed on your public profile, and a list of sites connected in Buzz.
Last month, US Congress members urged regulators to investigate the service and the private information it exposed.
“We are writing to express our concern over claims that Google Buzz… breaches online consumer privacy and trust,” said the signatories, led by Representative John Barrow, a Georgia Democrat.
This is of interest only from a privacy viewpoint and as a rare example of Google having to take a step back and apologize for something, unless you use Google Buzz regularly.
At the very least, you have to give Google props for quickly seizing the band-aids. Buzz may be flawed, but it could be on its way towards maturing into a valid (and safe) contender in the social networking arena.
The Google Buzz team has promised more updates in the future.