[Infowarrior] - US lawmakers ask for FTC investigation of Google Buzz

[Richard Forno]

US lawmakers ask for FTC investigation of Google Buzz
Eleven representatives question whether the launch of Buzz breached  
consumer privacy
  Grant Gross (IDG News Service)
  30 March, 2010 06:43

http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/341341/us_lawmakers_ask_ftc_investigation_google_buzz/
Eleven U.S. lawmakers have asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to  
investigate Google's launch of its Buzz social-networking product for  
breaches of consumer privacy.

The representatives -- six Democrats and five Republicans from the  
House Energy and Commerce Committee -- noted in their letter that  
Google's roll-out of Buzz exposed private information of users to  
Google's Gmail service to outsiders. In one case, a 9-year-old girl  
accidentally shared her contact list in Gmail with a person who has a  
"sexually charged" username, the lawmakers said in the letter, sent to  
the FTC Friday and released Monday.

"Due to the high number of individuals whose online privacy is  
affected by tools like this -- either directly or indirectly --- we  
feel that these claims warrant the commission's review of Google's  
public disclosure of personal information of consumers through Google  
Buzz," said the letter, organized by Representative John Barrow, a  
Georgia Democrat.

In the original public version of Buzz, launched in February, the  
program compiled a list of the Gmail contacts the users most  
frequently e-mailed or chatted with and automatically started  
following those people. Those lists were made public, giving strangers  
access to the contacts of Buzz users.

There were a flurry of complaints from Gmail users, and Google made  
changes to Buzz within a couple of days.

Asked for a response to the letter, a Google spokeswoman said user  
transparency and control are important to the company. "When we  
realized that we'd unintentionally made many of our users unhappy, we  
moved quickly to make significant product improvements to address  
their concerns," she said, repeating Google's past statements on Buzz.  
"Our door is always open to discuss additional ways to improve our  
products and services moving forward. "

The lawmakers asked the FTC to get answers to four questions from  
Google, including whether the company will revise its Gmail privacy  
policy to obtain consent from consumers for sharing their information.  
The lawmakers also want to know if Google was using the personal  
information collected through Buzz to deliver targeted advertising.

The representatives also questioned how Google's planned acquisition  
of mobile advertising vendor AdMob will affect consumer privacy.

In mid-March, outgoing FTC member Pamela Jones Harbour ripped into  
Google for its handling of Buzz, calling the product's launch  
"irresponsible conduct."

In February, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a  
complaint with the FTC, saying that Google Buzz engaged in unfair and  
deceptive practices that violated Google's privacy policy and federal  
wiretap laws.