Slashdot Mirror
Google Settles Buzz Privacy Suit
bouldin writes "This evening, Google e-mailed Gmail users who had been invited to Google Buzz to advise of settlement on a class-action privacy suit. The class action suit alleged privacy breaches due to the default privacy settings when Google rolled out the service. Terms of the settlement include $8 million to cover lawyer fees and fund privacy policy education on the Internet, but do not include cash payouts to Gmail users. With several outstanding class action privacy suits against Facebook and Zynga, it is interesting to see Google set this precedent."
What precedent? Settling a privacy class action suit by promising to pay millions to fund some kind of privacy foundation, and no payment to individual users?
Facebook did that last year when it settled the class action suit over its "beacon" program.
you will lose your right to sue Google for privacy violations - forever - with no compensation.
I don't think that's true. AFAIK, You only waive your right to sue Google for claims settled in this particular case. A clarification from a lawyer would be nice.
The point is, if you used GMail, you were signed up for Buzz without any warning - If you never "used" Buzz, you still had a public profile, listing everyone you "follow" - which by default was the people you e-mailed the most.