In our all-too-connected world, people have a right to be concerned about privacy and groups like the Electronic Privacy Information Center should be applauded for their vigilance. Equally weighted with this concern, however, people need to also take responsibility for their privacy. The uproar and over-dramatic reaction over the launch of Google Buzz in the last week has only demonstrated just how ill-equipped many people are at taking responsibility. It’s also opened the door to mindless fear-mongers.
Case in point: Harvard Law School student Eva Hibnick filed a federal class-action lawsuit claiming “Google Buzz made private data belonging to Gmail users publicly available without the users’ knowledge or authorization”.
Really?
Now, there’s nothing wrong with not understanding internet communication and social media. Most importantly, there
is nothing wrong with protecting your privacy and carefully discerning your options when you are offered an opportunity to participate in any activity on the internet. There is, however, no excuse for complaining (much less filing a lawsuit) when the real issue is your inability to read and follow specific directions that impact your privacy. From the first day that Google Buzz was launched, the web page everyone saw when they logged into Gmail clearly stated that Google Buzz was an opportunity to “share updates, photos, videos, and more” with “people you email and chat with most in Gmail”. In addition, you can “follow your friends and get recommended buzz from others – all within Gmail”. Finally you are left to make a decision and select one of the following: “Sweet! Check out Buzz” or “Nah, go to my inbox”.
Apparently, this simple choice is just too much for some people to understand – including a Harvard Law School student.
The decision should be a simple one – if you don’t want to share information with people you exchange email with in Gmail or if you have a concern about privacy as it relates to your Gmail communication, the logical and reasonable choice would be to decline any participation in Buzz. There’s no shame in not using a new and unfamiliar tool on the internet whether it’s Gmail or some other web site. I know a number of smart people that just weren’t sure how Google Buzz worked and took a cautious approach.
Regardless of the clear option to opt-in or opt-out, some people would rather create a myth that Google Buzz “made private data belonging to Gmail users publicly available”. At a minimum, you would expect a Harvard Law School student to understand the options, but not Eva Hibnick.
Like many people, Hibnick may not understand how social media works. In a Twitter account of a law student with the same name using the handle @beever21, Hibnick appeared confused and clearly didn’t understand how Twitter worked.
Again, there’s nothing wrong with not understanding social networking but it’s not an excuse for not understanding simple choices around privacy. I’m going to err on the side of believing that a Harvard Law student understands how to read and understands the options in Google Buzz, but according to ABC:
When the service first launched, it set users up to automatically “follow” (or receive status updates from) the people they most e-mailed or chatted with, leading many users to worry that their contacts were public to anyone on the Web.
Hibnick said that some of the people Google had selected to follow her were people she hadn’t spoken to in months.
Hibnick said she mentioned her frustrations to a classmate, who happened to be a research assistant for a Harvard professor who specializes in civil procedure and class-action law.
When he agreed that Google Buzz could indeed constitute a privacy breach, he put them in touch with one of the attorneys now representing Hibnick.
When the service first launched, it set users up to automatically “follow” (or receive status updates from) the people they most e-mailed or chatted with, leading many users to worry that their contacts were public to anyone on the Web.Hibnick said that some of the people Google had selected to follow her were people she hadn’t spoken to in months.Hibnick said she mentioned her frustrations to a classmate, who happened to be a research assistant for a Harvard professor who specializes in civil procedure and class-action law.When he agreed that Google Buzz could indeed constitute a privacy breach, he put them in touch with one of the attorneys now representing Hibnick.
Harvard should be embarrassed.
What Hibnick doesn’t say is that even if you mistakenly opted-in to use Buzz (knowing that it is based on “people you email and chat with most in Gmail”) , the very next screen gave her the option of un-selecting the automated, suggested contacts before she did anything else. I guess those check boxes were just too confusing for poor Eva.
So what’s the point of the lawsuit? Does she get bonus points in her Frivolous Lawsuits class? Is it simply an opportunistic shot at the biggest internet company to gain 15 minutes of fame?
According to Hibnick’s attorney, “What we’d like to see as result is a commitment from Google that they’re not going to do this again the next time they launch a product.” That’ll teach ‘em!
There’s good reason for technologists to be concerned about lawsuits like this as they have the potential to undermine innovation. Linking social networking to email is new and innovative. It’s not for everyone but it does expand the dimensions for social networking and communication in general. A reasonable expectation of privacy should be transparency and control about how personal information is used. Google Buzz did exactly that and lawsuits like Hibnick’s do not add clarity to the very serious issue of privacy.
