The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charging Google’s social network, Google Buzz, for violating their own privacy policies and deceptive practices. In 2010, Google launched Google Buzz as its own social network platform. A settlement has been proposed and for the next 20 years, the search engine giant will be required to to undergo consistent privacy audits.
The primary complaint filed by the FTC is that Google collected Gmail user information and used it to develop and populate its social network platform, Google Buzz. Regardless of whether users opted out, Google automatically enrolled users for many of the features. Also, Gmail users were placed in an auto-follow option that added contacts who were most frequently emailed by the user.
After four days of complaints and requests for change, Google made significant changes to its privacy policy and later settled for $8.5 million in a class action lawsuit.
At the time, Google’s privacy policy was, “When you sign up for a particular service that requires registration, we ask you to provide personal information. If we use this information in a manner different than the purpose for which it was collected, then we will ask for your consent prior to such use.”
The FTC claims Google misrepresented their opt-out option because many who didn’t want the service or even turned off Google’s social media Buzz were still enrolled in many features. The FTC also claims that Google’s “How do you want to appear to others?” feature violated users expectations. The feature falsely indicated that Buzz users could regulate the information that was shared, but the auto-follow option caused Gmail contacts to be publicly displayed by default.
Google will now be held responsible to hire independent auditors to ensure proper privacy efforts are being implemented for the next 20 years. As a result, Google will be required to ask users to opt-in when changes are made to its products.
Google will be charged $16,000 every time the company violates any of these terms. This seems like pocket change, but the fee will be incurred for each individual and account for each separate day the term is violated. Large fees could add up quickly. Does Google need to take some social media lessons?
