Commentary

Another Lawsuit Filed Over Buzz Blunder

Google was hit this week with a second potential class-action lawsuit over its new Buzz social networking service.

This case was filed in federal district court in Rhode Island on behalf of Cranston resident Adranik Souvalian. Like other Gmail users to find fault with Buzz, Souvalian alleges that Google shouldn't have publicized his contacts without first obtaining his consent.

"Google Buzz did not warn users that their private email contacts would be used to create publicly viewable lists of 'followers.' Nor did Google seek or receive permission to do so," Souvalian alleges. "The activation of Buzz disclosed not only users' private email contact lists, but also disclosed the contacts with whom users communicate most often."

This lawsuit follows one filed last month by Harvard law student Eva Hibnick. The new case also comes on the heels of a complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

The underlying events are well-known by now: At launch, almost four weeks ago, Google automatically transformed people's email contacts into followers on Buzz and then made lists of those followers public by default.

Obviously Google was so eager to launch a social networking service to compete with Twitter and Facebook that it rolled out Buzz without thinking through the privacy implications.

Since then Google has revamped Buzz, making it more privacy-friendly. Among other revisions, the company now merely suggests followers, rather than automatically creating them. But critics say that's not enough. EPIC wants Buzz to move to an entirely opt-in system that doesn't even automatically make suggestions for followers.

Despite the very real privacy problems posed by Buzz, it's not at all clear that either of the two people to come forward as plaintiffs could prevail in a lawsuit. Plaintiffs typically have to show that they suffered some sort of economic or other tangible injury to prevail in a privacy lawsuit. So far, neither Hibnick or Souvalian has alleged they suffered injury as a result of Buzz.

Nonetheless, Google might well be inclined to quickly resolve these matters, if for no other reason than to put this privacy gaffe behind it.

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