Spam Hits Google Buzz Already

ChiefMonkeyGrinder writes "Despite only being launched this week, spammers are already targeting Google Buzz, the search engine's social network." If my buzz box is any indicator, the spammers are pretty much the only people actually using Buzz, and until Facebook can integrate, I wonder if that will change. The Times also has a followup on Google's Apologies following various privacy bumbles throughout the launch of Buzz.

Comments

What exactly were you expecting?

[FlyingBishop]

What makes Facebook so good is that it's all tied to people - even the fake accounts need to seem to be people.

When you enable social networking for everyone who thought they were signing up for a mailbox, you're naturally going to cause a mess. Social networking is about the walled garden, and the security it gives you in terms of who you're talking to.

The underlying problem is one of anonymity and the Internet, and finding a way to verify identity without a walled garden. If Google is looking at innovating, they need to find a compelling way to bridge the anonymity gap.

Re:What exactly were you expecting?

[lennier]

Social networking is about the walled garden, and the security it gives you in terms of who you're talking to.

The underlying problem is one of anonymity and the Internet, and finding a way to verify identity without a walled garden. If Google is looking at innovating, they need to find a compelling way to bridge the anonymity gap.

I agree that social networking is about verifiable identity, but disagree that it is or should be about the walled garden. Current social networks ARE walled gardens, and that's a huge net negative for me.

What frustrates me hugely is that we've had email identity-verification proposals like SPF for years now and always people say 'meh that's useless it doesn't stop spam'. But it's not about spam (bulk of mail received from strangers). It's about identity (knowing that someone who sends to you is who they say they are). The second is FAR more important than the first. And we've had OpenID, and who uses that beyond LiveJournal and Blogger?

Facebook and Twitter give us an identity, an aggregator, and a content generator, and a simple web-based interface to all three. But we should be able to do this without requiring a centralised proprietary routing hub. For crying out loud, isn't this EXACTLY what RSS was invented for? Why didn't it work?

Re:Facebook Will Not Acknowledge the New Guy

[hedwards]

You already don't have to go there ever again. I've never been there and I'm still alive.

Re:Facebook Will Not Acknowledge the New Guy

[geegel]

Dude, no offense, get a life.

I knew there was a reason not to use Gmail

[Fnkmaster]

For years now, it's been "Gmail is so great", "why don't you use Gmail?" I've been that curmudgeon who has these strange ideas about privacy and not entrusting too much data to one company.

I felt vindicated the other day when my wife freaked out upon seeing people she had emailed with on gmail sudden on her new friends list in the Google Buzz system that she never signed up for, along with the suggestion that she share photos with them and other private data about every action she takes on any system owned by Google.

On Facebook, at least you went into it *knowing* that everything you post there gets shared with every person you once spoke to in a grad school class who friended you randomly three years later. Google has insidiously roped you into using a bunch of disconnected services that were great and generally free and all the while, you've known that sure, they collect data they can use for advertising to you, but it's all so goddamned warm and fuzzy, what's there to worry about?

Suddenly, you find that Google Reader, Picasa, Gmail, etc. are all part of a social networking service you didn't intend to sign up for and Google is trying to push you into sharing everything you do with everybody you email with.

I consider this utterly, well, evil. Deceitful. Sketchy. This stuff needs to be totally opt-in.

I helped my wife turn off all the "sharing" features of Buzz. But could not find any way to completely opt-out of Buzz. There didn't seem to be a way, other than to cease using Gmail entirely. I consider that vile.

Re:Google Buzz's Skyrocketing Usage

[afabbro]

While it's still very early into Buzz's life cycle, initial indications show that Google has a hit on its hands.

My astroturfing meter is pegged.

Re:Facebook Will Not Acknowledge the New Guy

[rah1420]

I got my FB account just after Christmas. Deactivated it last week. No thanks.

I have a strange feeling about this 'social networking' thing. Not really comfortable with it, I'm not. I can "get" LinkedIn, but I think that's as much as I want to share.

I also seem to have three Buzz followers already. Keep following me, peeps - I ain't gonna be there, either.