Waiting for the Google Buzz Privacy Outcry
I hope that the same people who went all paranoid about Facebook’s recent privacy changes get up in arms about Google Buzz.
It will only be a matter of time now before my mother calls me to ask why I keep emailing her to tell her all about my late night bowel movements/software releases. ”I’m not emailing you, mom! Google decided it was a good thing to crap everything I say into your email inbox so that you won’t miss out on the exciting world of social media.”
I miss the days when I could post something on the internet for only a few friends, and not have it automatically rebroadcast in an uglier format to everyone I’ve ever met. I miss the days when you could choose who you were having the conversation with. Facebook’s privacy change opened the doors to people interested enough to go snoop around in other people’s internet postings: so now your mom can stalk you if she really wants to and goes out of her way to do so. Google’s technique is almost the opposite - they’ll collect everything you say and send it, like a report card, to all your judging relatives and coworkers. Personally, the “people I email the most” are the people from whom I most jealously guard my privacy.
To make matters worse, Google Buzz is going use some sort of magic algorithm to sort and rank the content that comes off the wire to supplement my already bursting inbox full of nonsense. I feel they are trying to force feed me the worst parts of social media - ie, the most popular stuff - via an interface that I’ve been trained means HIGH PRIORITY ALWAYS ON RESPOND NOW.
I pity the inbox zero people the most.
Also: the icon is just tasteless. Google, your naive schtick is over. Grow up and get good graphic designers like everyone else who is legit.
