Final Proposal: Google Buzz

The assignment said broadly defined, so I'm gonna stretch that a little. I'd like to talk about the privacy debacle (and eventual FTC settlement) that was Google Buzz.

In 2010, Google introduced a new service called Buzz that automatically activated as soon as users visited the info page. Once activated, Buzz analyzed the user's Google account, including their entire email history. Large amounts of personal information was made public by default, and users were not adequately informed of what was happening with their information. And, like most social networks, the settings to disable such wanton sharing were not easy to find.

So, what's happening here?

- Google lured users to an automatic opt-in page by teasing a new service. The service was enabled as soon as the user clicked the link. Why is that okay? Shouldn't we have more control over what we are and are not members of?

- User agreements and privacy policies are often a convoluted mess, and gibberish to the average user. Google released a bunch of information without truly prompting users, or telling them what was happening with their information. Again, why is that okay?

- Worst of all, Google took the liberty of analyzing every user's email history. Frequency of communication, senders, recipients, and even the bodies of emails were tossed into an algorithm without user knowledge or express consent (and no, one line out of 50 thousand in a user agreement doesn't count). WHY IS THIS OKAY?!

How is this hacking? Information was accessed, copied, and disclosed by an outside entity without users' knowledge or express consent. I'd say that counts.