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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."
welcome our new, eight million dollar richer, lawyer Overlords.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
They sent me an automatic message into my two Gmail accounts.
Which were then, ironically, filtered into the 'Spam' folder automatically. How awesome is that?
There's a spot in User Info for World of Warcraft account names? Really?
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.
Even if Google said I could get $50 from the lawsuit I wouldn't accept it. I have no reason to take Google's $50 when it was up to me to learn about my privacy on Google Buzz. Plus, Google has done so much for me in the past that it would be like stealing money from a friend. Cannot do that. Freakin lawyers, bunch of [my attorney has advised me not to complete this sentence].
Opt out of the settlement and sue them yourself to get your justice.
Tired of being "punished" by the Slashdot $rtbl since 2002. I'm now over at http://soylentnews.org/ .
One never knows when one may want to sue Google over privacy concerns. This is a good way for them to put a blanket over millions of potential future lawsuits.
"...With several outstanding class action privacy suits against Facebook and Zynga, it is interesting to see Google set this precedent."
Just goes to show you that as with most free services, you get what you pay for. And they (lawyers) get what they "paid" for.
The lawyers are taking home 25% of the 8.5 million (plus interest), plus reimbursement of costs and expenses, according to the class action website.
Frankly, if I had to choose between a company keeping the money it has earned versus going to a random group of lawyers, I'd go with the former. Maybe I'd be more for punishing an organization financially if they were engaging in risky behavior and refusing to stop; however, from what I can remember about the incident, Google apologized and shut the thing down quickly (I'm not 100% on that, though).
First of all, this only affects US citizens.
If you used GMail after February 9, 2010 then you *must* opt out of this settlement or you will lose your right to sue Google for privacy violations - forever - with no compensation.
To exclude yourself from the Settlement, you must send a letter or other written document by mail saying that you want
to be excluded from In re Google Buzz User Privacy Litigation, No. 5:10-cv-00672-JW. Be sure to include your full
name, address, reason why you want out of the Settlement, as well as proof that you used Gmail at some point after February 9, 2010, your signature, and the date. You must mail your request for exclusion so that it is received no later
than December 6, 2010, to:
CLASS ACTION ADMINISTRATOR
In re Google Buzz User Privacy Litigation
c/o The Garden City Group, Inc.
P.O. Box 91088
Seattle, WA 98111-9188
You cannot ask to be excluded on the phone, by email, or at the website. An exclusion request is not a claim for payment.
How we know is more important than what we know.
And hire some more lawyers to win a case that was already won?
Yes, that's a way better option... for the lawyers.
Assuming Google caused you a higher loss than the amount you receive (and you can demonstrate the loss in the court), you can certainly go for it and cite this case in your suit.
If you didn't lose something, help me understand why are you complaining?
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
Mine wasn't. I guess enough people marked it as Spam to train Google's filters...
Ironic that the only way to opt out of the privacy settlement is to mail in your full name, address, phone number and signature.
Follow the link provided in the email and then press "FAQ" on the website. RTFE(Read the fucking email).
So your method of confirming that an email is real is to click on links in said email. Flawless.
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.
What is the value of your privacy? How do you quantify the damage caused by loss of said privacy?
This is the problem with lawsuits that try to reduce everything to dollar amounts. That might be an objective measure in some sense, but the value of the most important things in life is rarely measured in cash, and often compensation for losing them can't be measured in cash either.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
you lost your privacy?
hmm, have you tried searching on google?
This seemed like a reasonable sig at the time.
As a frequent Buzz user who also cares deeply about online privacy, this settlement seems just about right to me. I would much rather my fellow users were educated about how to protect their privacy online than have a few extra pennies in my pocket (and that is about what this would amount to if paid out in cash to every class member). I actually wish more class action settlements would end like this. How many times have I been notified that I was part of a class winning a class action only to be informed my share was less than my time was worth to read the damn letter in the first place? (I'll tell you: three times). In any one of those cases I would much rather that my share had been aggregated together with every other class member's and put to a good cause.
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
Google Settles Buzz Privacy Suit - Refund Issued to All Gmail Users
Sewage Treatment Facilities - "Our duty is clear."
I read about something like this every couple of weeks. Usually the benefactor is our State or Federal government. I have even experienced this at a much greater scale.
About 5 years ago my wife needed some surgery. Our surgery was covered by my insurance. The doctor's staff reviewed our insurance and said we had "great insurance" and that they never have problems with our insurance.
Anyways, she had the surgery and a few months later we received a bill for over 10 thousand of dollars. Turns out that our insurance covered 90% of the cost of the surgery, but only 90% of the cost that some data base said the surgery was worth. The data base said the surgery was worth just over $1000. So they covered a little less than $1000 of a $10,000 plus bill.
Of course this was BS so we refused to pay and two years later we were in court owing over $20,000 (late fees, collection fees, midnight slamming on the door and scaring the kids by the local police fees...)
We lost in court and we were chastised by the judge.
We couldn't pay and ended up filing bankruptcy.
Well, that was the background. Now to the point. Last years it was determined that the company that determines what a procedure is worth is wholly owned by the insurance company that writes the checks. Not only that but the insurance company saved 100s of millions of dollars because they didn't have to pay as much as they would have.
The punishment on the insurance company was that they had to pay a fine of $50 million dollars to the State. This BS bankrupted us.
Go figure...