ALERT ALERT ALERT

[cleolinda]

Soooooooo Google has fucked up pretty bad with this new Buzz thing, in my opinion. It kind of sounded like a hybrid of FriendFeed, Google Reader, and Twitter, which I don't need because... I already use FriendFeed, Google Reader, and Twitter. If it's supposed to be like Facebook... well, I don't ever log into Facebook, so I still don't care. I mean, I'm happy for you, Google, that you have put it all under one roof, but because everyone I know who gives a shit about "microblogging" is already on Twitter but isn't necessarily on Gmail and Twitter suits me just fine, I'm going to stay over there.

Then I saw this. Apparently, Google Buzz reveals who your most frequently emailed contacts are.

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.

[...]

Oh, yes, I suppose I could opt out of Buzz — which I did when it was introduced, though that apparently has no effect on whether or not I am now using Buzz — but as soon as I did that, all sorts of new people were following me on my Reader! People I couldn’t block, because I am not on Buzz!

So now, Google Updates, Explains Buzz Privacy Setup (Lifehacker: "Does it seem to you like Google underestimated how seriously people would take having even a small part of their inboxes exposed to the world?"). There is also a privacy checklist on MSNBC. Quite honestly, I am more worried about the privacy of my contacts than my own right now; I went through that Lifehacker link's instructions to turn that shit off and discovered that I had already opted to lock down my profile fairly securely (and not filled much of it out, in fact) a while ago. What freaked me out was the idea of people being able to see who I email and then possibly going off and bugging them, and I won't get into why this is a concern for me (and them), but it is. So I'm turning this shit off until Google gets its act together, because, judging by that first blogger's experience, it is (or was) a privacy-invading, Catch-22 clusterfuck. If you want to opt out as well, go to your Gmail inbox, very bottom of the page, and look for "turn off buzz" in the tiniest letters possible. Assholes.

(Seriously, can someone explain to me what the sweet hell Google was thinking?)

ETA: A more thorough Buzz-remover from CNet. Just turning it off doesn't fix everything.


P.S. It has been pelting down snow for a couple of hours now. Also, Sam went to the vet for a foot checkup, and now he has a red boot.

Comments

[khaman.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that, the Buzz shit didn't even occur to me. Have turned it off as well pending some closer research.

[lylassandra.livejournal.com]

You know, I think red would look stunning with his coat. =)

[chulacabra.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

This wasn't on my radar at all. What were these fuckers thinking???

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

Google doesn't think at all!

[sweetsyren.livejournal.com]

Bloody hell...what a shower.

*turns it the hell off*

[robinmc.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this. When did we get to the point in our society that corporations are surprised that some people do actually value privacy?

[greedyskunk.livejournal.com]

COPS and The Real World...the rise of the reality show in the early 90's and the destruction of privacy in the new millenium.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell (by which I mean 'unless they changed it since yesterday'), 'turn off Buzz' doesn't disable peoples' ability to follow you, nor does it turn off the display of the Following list, it just turns off Buzz in the UI. Which. Yeah.

[tinylegacies.livejournal.com]

They already have.

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/millions-of-buzz-users-and-improvements.html

[neveth.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads up. I was wondering how to go about turning it off, and now I have done so! Hooray!

[sadcypress.livejournal.com]

Ugh- thanks for this. I hadn't used Buzz at all, but I just checked out who it had automatically added for me on the email I use for work (I'm a teacher at the college level)... and I saw that it had added some of my problem students from last year. You know, the ones I had to email back and forth with all the time.

FAIL, GOOGLE BUZZ.

[maudelynn.livejournal.com]

A. That sucks. :(
B. You have a Poirot related user name. THAT does not suck.

[amberdulen.livejournal.com]

From CNET: How to REALLY turn off Buzz. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10451703-2.html

[coraa.livejournal.com]

This is useful information, thank you. (I had noticed that 'turn off Buzz' was a purely UI tweak, which I found concerning.)

[maudelynn.livejournal.com]

That is all kinds of wrong, sauteed in wrong sauce. I am so glad I am a semi technophobe (ok. semi lazy) and only have yahoo and mac emails.

As we talked about earlier, this is just ripe with drama causing pitfalls...
"WHO THE HELL IS 'AND SUCH AS'??? AND WHY DO YOU EMAIL THEM SO MUCH????"

Not to mention all the "HEY! WHY DIDN'T SUCH AND SUCH GIVE ME THAT EMAIL ADDY... THAT'S NOT THE ONE I HAVE..."

err, um... yes... anyhoo...

SAM! POST PICS ASAP...

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

Whooo, yeah. The potential for drama is AMAZING. What I'm trying to figure out is this: if I didn't even try out Buzz, and I don't have a profile on http://www.google.com/profiles, does that mean I don't have to worry about this? Time to poke around the web and find out.

I also second the wish for Sam pics! Fancy red boot!

[genmaicha.livejournal.com]

Oh what massive massive fail.

[neintales.livejournal.com]

Thanks for spreading that around. I actually buzzed the link to various friends before opting out of buzz entirely.

Nice how easy they made it to FIND all the ways to make things more private and shut it off.

Wait, they didn't really make it easy. Whoops, what's nice is this bagel I'm eating. Silly me getting mixed up!

[spinetisch.livejournal.com]

WOW, thank you for this information. Turned off Buzz immediately. Don't get the point of it anyway, but I figured I'd give it a try. Now? Um, pass.

[roseredhoofbeat.livejournal.com]

GOOD FREAKING LORD. Wanna know who Google decided who would like to follow me, and that I might want to follow? MY HUSBAND'S EX-WIFE (and I don't even email her that frequently, so I have NO IDEA what the hell that's about!) and my daughter's biological father that I've been seperated from for two and a half years, AND HIS MOTHER, who I have emailed all of ONCE.

If I wanted to use "social networking sites", I would use them. I do not use Facebook or Twitter or MySpace BECAUSE I HATE THEM. I use Gmail because I LIKE GMAIL, OR AT LEAST I THOUGHT I DID.

[wellowned.livejournal.com]

i know, right?? i had an email from one person on lj... one. and apparently that equaled a frequent contact who i just had to have on my buzz. meh, i've got all the social networking i need, thanks.

[lomer.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Not only is it in the tiniest letters possible on my gmail account, but the typeface is white on a white background. You have to take your mouse and highlight everything to even FIND the "turn off" option. Sweet. It's like a treasure hunt and the reward is your privacy! Wheee!

[jainamsolo.livejournal.com]

God, what a nightmare. It carried over to my Reader, too-- apparently when Buzz rolled out, it automatically sent a bunch of "follow" requests to my most frequent contacts, or something. I had to turn Buzz back on, unfollow them all, and then turn Buzz back off. I never actually created a Google profile so I'm not sure if/how I show up there.

[wellowned.livejournal.com]

i think google profiles are automatic. i've never done one either, but when i clicked, i had one.

[xanath.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I've turned off the Buzz option on my Gmail--I had no idea this thing was automatically turned on. And I DON'T have an abusive ex to look out for, but I still don't appreciate having any of my information out there without my say-so.

[ali-jayne.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this!

I still don't quite understand what buzz is for, and to me, it seems a little too much. :(

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[elbales]

WHAT THE HELL, GOOGLE.

Faaaaaaaaaaiiil.

Thanks for posting this. Have unfollowed everyone. Seriously, I don't NEED to have former students following me. >:(

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

Glad you linked to that other article, because just turning it off doesn't shut it down.

Also, turning on Buzz, and then turning it off, screwed up my friend's googlereader such that my shared things are no longer visible to him except in the comments link. We can't figure it out.

[skybreak-seeker.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

Google, it's okay. You don't have to be the only thing on the internet, you can let the other kids play too.

That said, you need a time out for this. Ten minutes in the corner, and you only get one cookie at snack time.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

Holy crap.
Not cool, Google.