Lawmakers Want FTC To Investigate Google Buzz

Google Buzz is having a bad day. I reported earlier about the lack of search interest in Buzz, but there’s a potentially more serious legal problem coming: A group of 11 lawmakers is asking the FTC to investigate whether Google Buzz violated consumer privacy regulations. BusinessWeek reported over the weekend that 11 members of the […]

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Google Buzz is having a bad day. I reported earlier about the lack of search interest in Buzz, but there’s a potentially more serious legal problem coming: A group of 11 lawmakers is asking the FTC to investigate whether Google Buzz violated consumer privacy regulations.

BusinessWeek reported over the weekend that 11 members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have sent a letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. The Hill quotes the letter, which is critical of “Google’s practice of automatically using consumers’ e-mail address books to create contact lists for Buzz and then publicly disclosing the names of those private contacts.”

Google responded to the news as it has in the past, by saying that it “moved quickly” to tweak Google Buzz when the complaints began rolling in shortly after its launch.

Two weeks ago, an outgoing FTC commissioner slammed Google over how it launched Buzz. Within a week of that launch, in fact, the Canadian government was said to be reviewing Buzz.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Matt McGee
Contributor
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

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