The Buzz on Google Buzz: Scott Hinkley

In light of all the areas Google is attempting to add to it's overall branding, I thought the lack of attention to privacy issues relating to the launch of Google's new Buzz service was an a seriously damaging oversight. In my opinion, Google has been the most successful in creating a notion of e-mail as a utility rather than a luxury. There spam filtering is generally very strong, and their interface is reasonably flexible. But perhaps the most important perceived benefit of Google e-mail is the assumption that their motto "do no evil" reflects on their desire to preserve individual freedom and privacy. Overall, I think that assumption about Google as a corporation is sound, and I think this is why their exposing so much gmail related information through their new Buzz service was such a blow to their image. Had they simply defaulted to hiding users information, this would not have mattered, but it appears that in their thirst for content, they crossed some boundaries.

I understand the pressure they must have been feeling to have text and photos appear on their new service quickly, Facebook and Myspace have been soliciting content for their pages for years now, but the fact remains that the personal habits and connections people have through their e-mail is too sacred and personal to publish in such a cavalier manner. I am pleased that they responded quickly to the criticism, and I am also pleased that people are becoming more sensitive about their digital personas, as well as their flesh-and-blood selves, since it is the side of so many people we see most often now.

Email Scott