Remember the privacy uproar over Google Buzz? Well, Google’s attempt at a social networking integration with Gmail was kind of a flop, but Buzz is still around and, apparently still a subject of much debate. Google was even the subject of a class action lawsuit. However, as all Gmail users know by now, Google’s finally settled the lawsuit for $8.5 million dollars, not that you’re getting any cash. Google is using the money to set up a fund to give awards to organizations working in the field of educating users on Internet privacy. Here’s the details on the Buzz Class Action website.
“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,” said the email from Google sent out yesterday. “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 issue at the heart of the lawsuit, the Buzz automatic opt-in that allowed Buzz users to see your contact list, has been fixed, and now Google is hoping that this final measure will assuage the privacy police and get the matter settled once and for all. I imagine all involved would like to forget about the Buzz fiasco.
Tags: unusual lawsuits, Google privacy lawsuit, Google Buzz, class-action lawsuit against Google Buzz settled, Google sets up .5 million dollar fund to settle lawsuit, Google Buzz lawsuit, Google Buzz privacy lawsuit settled, lawsuits, unusual emails, Buzz Class Action
