Google's Buzz has drawn two
privacylawsuits, a request for a Federal Trade Commission
investigation and some
pointed criticism by lawmakers.
Now, information revealed by Buzz about Andrew McLaughlin, Deputy Chief
Technology Officer for the Obama administration and former Google lobbyist, has spurred Consumer Watchdog -- which opposed McLaughlin's appointment -- to file a Freedom of Information Act request for McLaughlin's emails.
This week, Breitbart's Big Government reported that McLaughlin's Buzz profile
showed that at least 28 of his contacts worked at Google. "McLaughlin's Gmail appears to include a 'who's who' of Google senior lobbyists and lawyers from across the globe," the site wrote.
That's reason enough to request McLaughlin's emails, says John Simpson, consumer advocate for Consumer Watchdog. "His top contacts were former Google colleagues," Simpson says. "That prompted
a concern on my part. We ought to be able to see the emails that have gone back and forth between McLaughlin and Google executives."
The White House takes the position that the emails need
not be disclosed, the Los Angeles Timesreports.
Simpson acknowledges that some
of the emails between McLaughlin and Google employees might be personal, but argues that the government must come forward and argue that particular messages are privileged.
When Google
launched Buzz, it disclosed the names of users' email contacts, if users activated Buzz without changing the defaults. Since then, Google revised the service; now, it merely suggests followers, rather
than automatically creating them.
While the revision was a welcome change, it obviously came too late to protect the privacy of people like McLaughlin.