Thursday, February 18, 2010

Gmail Google Privacy Leak

go into your gmail settings and disable google buzz completely until they have fixed the privacy problems
"One problem that immediately caused concern was Google's decision to automatically give users a ready-made circle of friends based on the people they most frequently e-mailed. Unless users changed settings in their profile, this list could automatically be made public, allowing anyone to see who a user corresponded with most frequently. [P]rivacy experts immediately pointed out this could cause problems for journalists, businesses or even people having an illicit affair."


google: buzz privacy

and then click on "news" to read about it

here is a Washington Post article:

Google Buzz Privacy Issues Have Real Life Implications

here is an excerpt from a now made private blog:

"See for example this story of an anonymous woman who writes a (self-proclaimed) feminist blog, which she started after leaving an abusive marriage. (found on Hacker News)Hint: the title is 'Fuck you, Google'.An excerpt:I use my private Gmail account to email my boyfriend and my mother.There?s a BIG drop-off between them and my other ?most frequent? contacts.You know who my third most frequent contact is?My abusive ex-husband.Which is why it?s SO EXCITING, Google, that you AUTOMATICALLY allowed all my most frequent contacts access to my Reader, including all the comments I?ve made on Reader items, usually shared with my boyfriend, who I had NO REASON to hide my current location or workplace from, and never did."

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