Itinerantdaughter's Blog

After I wrote the letter to my friend who worked at Google, people began alerting me to other people’s disapproval of Buzz, Google’s new and unannounced feature. Such as this woman, who was suddenly being automatically “followed” by her abusive ex-husband:

“Fuck you, Google. My privacy concerns are not trite. They are linked to my actual physical safety, and I will now have to spend the next few days maintaining that safety by continually knocking down followers as they pop up. A few days is how long I expect it will take before you either knock this shit off, or I delete every Google account I have ever had and use Bing out of fucking spite.

Fuck you, Google. You have destroyed over ten years of my goodwill and adoration, just so you could try and out-MySpace MySpace.”

This woman writes the blog http://fugitivus.wordpress.com (woo WordPress!) and this article can be read in full http://gizmodo.com/5470696/fck-you-google.

And guess what, everyone? Google heard our cries!

From the Los Angeles Times on V-Day:

Google Makes More Changes to Buzz to Address Privacy Concerns

Google Inc. issued a mea culpa Saturday, saying it had made mistakes in how it launched its new social networking service Buzz. In response to a sharp backlash from users and watchdogs, the Internet giant apologized for escalating concerns about the privacy of the product.

“We quickly realized that we didn’t get everything quite right,” Google product manager Todd Jackson said in a blog post Saturday. “We’re very sorry for the concern we’ve caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback. We’ll continue to do so.”

Jackson said Buzz would no longer automatically have users follow the posts of frequent Gmail contacts. Instead, it will suggest people whom users might want to follow. Google also will put a Buzz tab in Gmail settings to make it easier for users to turn it off. Buzz will no longer automatically connect Buzz to Picasa photo albums and Google Reader items, the company said.

The changes, which will take effect over the next few days, were the latest Google had made to Buzz since it launched the product inside millions of Gmail accounts less than a week ago.

Controversy erupted as Buzz popped up in inboxes. Users complained that Google automatically signed them up to follow some of their Gmail contacts and exposed their contacts by making their follower lists public.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said Friday that the way Google handled Buzz was a major blunder and a rare one. In the past, Google has been more careful to give users control over privacy settings. Rotenberg said his group would file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission

~Jessica Guynn

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/02/google-buzz-privacy.html

Dearest YDN (Friend who works at Google),
First of all, let me say hello, and ask you how you are?  It’s been ages!  Part of that is because I’m down in Miami half the year (already in the role of Jewish grandma) and so have not been around when you’ve been out to visit NYC.  I miss you, though, and hope you are well and munching on good organic Californian froyo.  I’m hoping to get out to San Fran at some point in the next year (this may be wishful thinking, as I have little money and time)…regardless, we’ll cross paths at some point, I have no doubt.

I’m writing on behalf of the Citizens of Gmail, which, as you well know, is pretty much everyone in the world at this point.  For the most part, we’re happy with our governing body, pleased with your benevolent mandates and clear, concise laws.  You treat our children well, and skirmishes, few and far between, almost never end in fatalities.  However, an outcry has arose across the land over the past twenty-four hours.  You see, many Gmail peons feel they have been thrown into a whirlwind of confusion by a strange and unexpected addition to their worlds known as BUZZ.  The overall consensus, from what I’ve gathered (and with which I agree), is that Google did not properly inform us of the nature of this Buzz feature, nor were we explicitly asked if we wanted the Buzz feature in our browsers.  One person did state that she was given the option, but many, many others voiced feelings running the gamut from irritation to downright enmity.

I myself went to a Google Help Page and looked at the instructions for Buzz, but they did not include a section on how to get rid of it (not how to make yourself invisible, or how to make Buzz invisible to you, but how to EXTERMINATE THE BUMBLEBEE.)  So naturally when I was prompted to answer whether or not the page was helpful, I said no.  A box for text popped up, and I wrote that I wanted to get rid of buzz, but have you ever seen the movie Blindness, with Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo?  It’s not that good, so don’t Netflix it, but at one point, all the citizens of Any City afflicted with the blind illness are rounded up and incarcerated in an old hospital, and they give them one phone “for emergencies only,” and Julianne Moore keeps calling but eventually they figure out no one is at the other end.  So yeah, that’s kind of what it felt like to send a note to Google, Inc.

Google is great.  We really do love you for the most part, but people don’t want things sprung on them, you dig?  It makes them feel violated, or ignored.  If you have any idea how to get rid of Buzz, I will pay good money for that info, or if you have any sway with the high ups in Google (is it an egalitarian microcosm by now?) please communicate to them that their citizenry is discontent, and close to staging a coup.  Lock up your women, cause we about to rape and pillage.

Seriously, though, I miss you.  Hope you’re well.

Love,

ID