Google hit by lawsuit over Buzz privacy

A Gmail user has filed a class-action lawsuit against Google, charging that the new Buzz social networking tool set violates the privacy rights of users.

Eva Hibnick from Florida, filed the suit in a Californian federal court on behalf of herself and the approximately 31 million US users of Google's popular Gmail e-mail service. The lawsuit alleges that Google violated federal privacy and computer fraud laws by adding Buzz to the Gmail service last week.

According to the class action complaint, "Google Buzz made private data belonging to Gmail users publicly available without the users' knowledge or authorisation. Google has publicly admitted that its Buzz program presents privacy concerns, and Google has made several waves of modifications to the program. However, Google's modifications do not go far enough to address the problem. Furthermore, Google's actions have already caused damage because the Buzz program disclosed private user information the moment Google launched the service. The bell of breached privacy cannot be un-rung."

Hibnick is seeking unspecified damages and is asking the court to prevent Google from offering Buzz without "appropriate safeguards, default provisions and opt-in mechanisms."

Google said it has not yet been served with the lawsuit and would not comment until the complaint has been received and reviewed.

In her lawsuit, Hibnick called Google's tweaks to Buzz too little and too late.

Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group, said that if nothing else, the lawsuit should serve as an eye opener for Google executives.

"This should definitely be a wake-up call for them to go over Buzz with a magnifying glass and a fine-toothed comb, looking for any other potential problems and try to fix them proactively," Olds said. "Actually, the lawsuit doesn't surprise me at all. In fact, I'm a little surprised that there's only one so far. Given our litigious society, plus Google's recent missteps in terms of privacy, I wouldn't be surprised if state and/or federal regulators got into the act, too. Google did make some serious blunders with Buzz. Plus they aren't the underdog anymore. Their halo is getting a bit tarnished in some ways."

Olds added that he doesn't foresee the lawsuit having a major financial impact on Google but it should bring more scrutiny down on the company and its privacy moves and policies.