Google Buzz

Google Buzz is a retired social service. It allows for one that has a Gmail account to share updates, pictures, videos, and links on their Google profile. Concerns with privacy were raised at first, but this has been mostly fixed. You can make many friends on buzz. Friends on buzz are called followers. You can post things that your friends can see and you can comment on other people's posts. Google Buzz is part of Gmail.

Lawsuit
There was a lawsuit regarding Buzz's privacy with Google. Google is aiming to settle the suit for $8.5 million dollars and mass-mailed all U.S. (and possibly worldwide later or earlier) Gmail users about it:

Google rarely contacts Gmail users via email, but we are making an exception to let you know that we've reached a settlement in a lawsuit regarding Google Buzz (http://buzz.google.com), a service we launched within Gmail in February of this year.

Shortly after its launch, we heard from a number of people who were concerned about privacy. In addition, we were sued by a group of Buzz users and recently reached a settlement in this case.

The settlement acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address users' concerns. In addition, Google has committed $8.5 million to an independent fund, most of which will support organizations promoting privacy education and policy on the web. We will also do more to educate people about privacy controls specific to Buzz. The more people know about privacy online, the better their online experience will be.

Just to be clear, this is not a settlement in which people who use Gmail can file to receive compensation. Everyone in the U.S. who uses Gmail is included in the settlement, unless you personally decide to opt out before December 6, 2010. The Court will consider final approval of the agreement on January 31, 2011. This email is a summary of the settlement, and more detailed information and instructions approved by the court, including instructions about how to opt out, object, or comment, are available at http://www.BuzzClassAction.com.

This mandatory announcement was sent to all Gmail users in the United States as part of a legal settlement and was authorized by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Google Inc. | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway | Mountain View, CA 94043

Links

 * Google blog
 * Gmail (where Buzz is)