EPIC fail: Google faces FTC complaint over Buzz privacy

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a privacy watchdog and public interest research group, is calling foul on Buzz, Google’s recently launched social networking service. The group has filed a complaint with the FTC outlining several major grievances.

Shortly after Google launched Buzz last week, a number of users expressed dismay over the service’s loose handling of user privacy. It automatically makes the user’s Gmail address book into a public Buzz contact list, a move that is of questionable value to users and subjects some to the risk of exposing sensitive information to the wrong people.

In response to the negative outcry, Google has taken a number of steps to fix the most serious issues as quickly as possible. The company issued a public apology and transformed the auto-follow mechanism into an auto-suggest feature. They have also added a configuration panel that can be used to completely disable the service.

The complaint filed by EPIC indicates that the group is unsatisfied with the changes. It wants the service to be disabled by default and made available on an opt-in basis. Further, they also insist that the user’s e-mail address book should not be used by the service.

EPIC isn’t the only group that is concerned about Buzz. In a statement issued Tuesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) responded to Google’s latest improvements to Buzz’s privacy model. The EFF praised Google for taking a step in the right direction, but agrees with EPIC’s view that the service still needs to be made opt-in.

The EFF takes the opportunity to look at the bigger picture and the reasons why Google failed so spectacularly to address these problems before launching Buzz. According to reports from the BBC, Google piloted the service internally, but neglected to test it with regular users. They underestimated the confusion that would be caused by the privacy settings and failed to anticipate some of the real-world problems that arose from the design decisions that were made with the auto-follow feature.

The EFF points out that Google recklessly abused information entrusted to it by users—their address books—to gain a competitive advantage in a market where it is entering late and facing off against popular competitors. This raises serious questions of trust.

“These problems arose because Google attempted to overcome its market disadvantage in competing with Twitter and Facebook by making a secondary use of your information,” wrote Kurt Opsahl of the EFF in a statement. “Next week Google will face a federal judge and ask for approval of the Google Books settlement. EFF has raised privacy concerns, including the possibility that Google might make secondary uses of the Books information. Buzz’s disastrous product launch highlights the danger posed by this possibility, and showcases the need for firm enforceable commitments to protecting user privacy.”

Google is increasingly targeted with criticism over its privacy practices. The company, which aspires to make the world’s data “universally accessible,” is accused of retaining too much and oversharing without permission. The company lags its competitors in committing to shorter search retention times, and its log anonymization practices have also been criticized.

The fiasco with Buzz heightens the risk that Google’s do-no-evil image will continue to be tarnished by privacy fears. Google is clearly cognizant of that fact and has gone out of its way to be responsive to user feedback in the aftermath of the launch. It remains unclear, however, if Google will bend to the privacy groups and make Buzz an opt-in service.