Buzz gets privacy upgrade

Google has announced changes to Google Buzz after a backlash over privacy concerns with the new service.

Google now asks explicitly if users want to share Buzz followers upon setting up an account. (Credit: Google)

Early users of Google Buzz found the settings very complicated, especially the ones that pertain to privacy. In a blog post on Thursday, Google said it built privacy controls into Google Buzz from Day 1 but acknowledged the most strident criticism — that Google made it difficult to make one's list of followers private — in tweaking the set-up process for the new social-networking service.

"We heard from people that the check box for choosing not to display this information was too hard to find, and based on this feedback, we've changed the notice to make it very clear," the company said. "We will roll these changes out to all Gmail users later today."

Google will now ask Buzz users "How do you want to be seen to others?" when they log into the service for the first time. The default option will be "Show the list of the people I'm following and the list of people following me on my public profile", but that box can be unchecked and the option is much easier to find than the convoluted process that was required to hide that list prior to the update.

Google has also made it easier to block people from following their Buzz updates, which it confirmed in Thursday's announcement. It has also tweaked the list of those following a user to distinguish between Buzz users who have created public Google Profiles and those who haven't (which was one of the problems with the earlier method for blocking people: Buzz users could only block people with public Google Profiles). As a result, people without Google Profiles who were automatically added to your Google Buzz followers will not appear in the public list of those followers, should you choose to make that list public.

Google has not yet added Google Buzz to its Privacy Dashboard, which could satisfy some privacy concerns by making it very clear where and how Buzz information is being shared with Google and the public. A Google representative said the company planned to make that addition at some point, but couldn't share a timetable.

Via CNET News.com