[Air-L] Privacy Buzz

[Richard Forno]

I have not used Buzz (I don't use Gmail for that matter) but on principle, as an information security person, I am concerned with what I'm hearing regarding how Google rolled Buzz out to the world.   Does it raise privacy concerns both in totalitarian regimes and elsewhere, to include 'regular' Net users who may already manage their privacy and suddenly "got burned" by Buzz?  You bet.  I would have liked to know they rolled it out and required folks to opt-in, rather than automatically enable it for everyone. 

-rick


On Feb 13, 2010, at 11:33 AM, Aziz Douai wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> 
> I guess I am one of the lurkers on the listserv, but here goes my first
> contribution: Buzz. If you have used the new google social network service,
> how do you feel about the seeming violation of privacy? A few days ago, I
> decline my Gmail's insistence on adding trying the new feature/service. Now,
> the New York Times has a great article (Critics Say Google Invades Privacy
> with New Service:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/technology/internet/13google.html) on how
> users' rights to privacy appear to have been violated. The article raises
> the interesting question of how totalitarian regimes may use the service to
> suppress political dissent. Google's rhetoric and carefully constructed
> image following its row with China is put to test.
> 
> Anyway, I am curious as to how AIR members have found the feature with
> regard to both privacy and security.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Aziz
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Aziz Douai, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor, Communication Program
> Faculty of Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies
> University of Ontario Institute of Technology
> 2000 Simcoe Street North
> Oshawa, ON L1H 7K4
> E-mail: aziz.douai at uoit.ca/ azizdouai at gmail.com
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> "A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring
> it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both."  James
> Madison, 1822
> 
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