When Google Buzz launched earlier this year, the buzz it generated wasn’t what Google wanted. Privacy concerns were raised, and Google reacted quickly to try and dampen the resulting ballyhoo. This morning I received this email from Google:
Google rarely contacts Gmail users via email, but we are making an exception to let you know that we’ve reached a settlement in a lawsuit regarding Google Buzz (http://buzz.google.com), a service we launched within Gmail in February of this year.
Shortly after its launch, we heard from a number of people who were concerned about privacy. In addition, we were sued by a group of Buzz users and recently reached a settlement in this case.
The settlement acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address users’ concerns. In addition, Google has committed $8.5 million to an independent fund, most of which will support organizations promoting privacy education and policy on the web. We will also do more to educate people about privacy controls specific to Buzz. The more people know about privacy online, the better their online experience will be.
Just to be clear, this is not a settlement in which people who use Gmail can file to receive compensation. Everyone in the U.S. who uses Gmail is included in the settlement, unless you personally decide to opt out before December 6, 2010. The Court will consider final approval of the agreement on January 31, 2011. This email is a summary of the settlement, and more detailed information and instructions approved by the court, including instructions about how to opt out, object, or comment, are available at http://www.BuzzClassAction.com.
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This mandatory announcement was sent to all Gmail users in the United States as part of a legal settlement and was authorized by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.Google Inc. | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway | Mountain View, CA 94043″
I think this is a fairly positive result for Google – they’ve reached a settlement quickly and haven’t allowed it to drag on, and admitted their responsibility for it. Still, it’s another sign that as web services like Google (and Twitter, Facebook etc.) become even bigger, the amount of data we share online is growing and growing, and we need to know we can trust these services with our information.