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Google Will Shut Down Google+ Four Months Early After Second Data Leak (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Google+ has suffered another data leak, and Google has decided to shut down the consumer version of the social network four months earlier than it originally planned. From a report: Google+ will now close to consumers in April, rather than August. Additionally, API access to the network will shut down within the next 90 days. According to Google, the new vulnerability impacted 52.5 million users, who could have had profile information like their name, email address, occupation, and age exposed to developers, even if their account was set to private. Apps could also access profile data that had been shared with a specific user, but was not shared publicly.

53 comments

  1. Google+ still exists? by taiwanjohn · · Score: 1

    Now I'm wondering if this will affect Google Hangouts, Google Drive, and other such amenities...?

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
    1. Re:Google+ still exists? by lgw · · Score: 0

      Now I'm wondering if this will affect Google Hangouts, Google Drive, and other such amenities...?

      I thought hangouts (the free version, anyway) was already going away. No? Always another tombstone i the Google Graveyard.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    2. Re:Google+ still exists? by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1

      Google Buzz, Google Wave. I remember those from reading about em on Slashdot when they were first launched by Google. They were both social networking "Facebook killers", if I recall correctly.

    3. Re:Google+ still exists? by L_R_Shaw · · Score: 3, Informative

      Google Wave was a technology proof of concept. It never advertised as a ' killer'.

      If you are using Google products, you are almost certainly using the very cool tech developed by the Google Wave team.

    4. Re:Google+ still exists? by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Google Drive is just the latest version of Google Docs, it's not going anywhere.

      Hangouts, yes, it's being phased out, to be replaced by a couple of new products that aren't Hangouts but are called Hangouts because... they want Politifact to rule anything that says Hangouts is being shut down a lie I guess.

      But Hangouts is not being phased out in April.

      From what I can work out Google's common login system was always built around YouTube, not Google+, despite being branded with the latter. As a result, it's relatively easy to delink the social network from the rest of their products.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    5. Re:Google+ still exists? by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't be impacted if those disappeared yesterday.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    6. Re: Google+ still exists? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not sure many companies themselves advertise their products as âoekillers,â and Wave became a proof of concept once it failed as a product. I miss it.

    7. Re: Google+ still exists? by L_R_Shaw · · Score: 0

      Nope.

      Google Wave was never 'a product.'

    8. Re:Google+ still exists? by lgw · · Score: 1

      Ah, it's the desktop app that's going away, to be replaced by a Chrome extension.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    9. Re:Google+ still exists? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is that "very cool" tech specifically? Where is it used? How do you know people are using this very cool tech?

      It's so dense, every single frame has so many things going on. VERY COOL...very cool.

    10. Re: Google+ still exists? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was produced. That makes it a product.

      It's like you're a retard or something.

    11. Re: Google+ still exists? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nobody would be impacted if you disappeared.

  2. shut down rather than fix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    guess google is good, extremely good, at collecting all sorts of data on *EVERYBODY*, not so hot at (nor dedicated to) protecting it.

    1. Re:shut down rather than fix by novakyu · · Score: 1

      I'd rather blame whoever was on Google+ team. Can you imagine the repercussions if Gmail (or Google Drive) was ever compromised? It's one thing to consent to algorithmic scanning of messages for advertising purposes; it's quite another to have potentially personal and confidential correspondences and documents exposed to malicious actors.

  3. Doing what Google is best at by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Shutting down projects. Either they have the attention span of a six-year-old, or they are largely useless. Another possibility is useless managers (an oxymoron?) desperate to justify their useless jobs.

    1. Re:Doing what Google is best at by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'd also add that they're the masters of half-assed implementations. They very often bring something out that's not even beta level in terms of functionality, get bombarded with requests for new features that should have been there on day one, and then take fucking forever to implement even a few of the requests.

      No one should be surprised that Google+ is going away. It never came close to achieving the market penetration they wanted, and was always this weird thing over on the side among social media sites.

    2. Re:Doing what Google is best at by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I still miss iGoogle. And Orkut.

    3. Re:Doing what Google is best at by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'd also add that they're the masters of half-assed implementations. They very often bring something out that's not even beta level in terms of functionality, get bombarded with requests for new features that should have been there on day one, and then take fucking forever to implement even a few of the requests.

      But Agile(TM) and MVP and DevOps! Surely there's no need to actually make something work. Surely all our users are Agile app appers who app apps and understand that the MVP comes first and as long as it works on the Dev's machine, everything else is Ops' problem! End users and feature requests? Pah! If it can't be done within a two-week sprint, it's not worth doing! Now, let's see what functionality we can delete or at least hide deep behind enough multiple layers hamburger menus that our metrics can then "inform" us that we don't have to support it anymore?

    4. Re:Doing what Google is best at by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Another possibility is useless managers (an oxymoron?)"

      You may not know the definition of "oxymoron".

    5. Re:Doing what Google is best at by JohnStock · · Score: 1

      The way Google has behaved in the last few years is terrible, it's become much worse in the last 18 months. I'm actively avoiding as much of thier ecosystem as possible now because thier abandonment policy.

    6. Re:Doing what Google is best at by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      I haven't tried the other Google stuff, but Google+ seems a much better product than Facebook by far. If you grade it by market penetration then you're right that it's not a successful product, but if you grade by quality then it should be winning.

    7. Re:Doing what Google is best at by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Inconceivable!

    8. Re:Doing what Google is best at by Zoolander · · Score: 1
      This, from here is a pretty plausible reason why this keeps happening:

      Google GREATLY encourages "launches" - releasing something publicly. And keep in mind - no penalties if the shit is half baked, not working, only works on chrome, or some such nonsense! This is the norm! Why? Promotion. You cannot get promoted beyond a certain level in this place unless you "launch" something big. So what do you get when you add of all these perverse incentives? Nine thousand, eight hundred, and eighty-three chat apps, and a never-ending chain of redesigns and relaunches so some people can get promoted.

      --
      Meep.
    9. Re:Doing what Google is best at by novakyu · · Score: 1

      It indeed is an oxymoron. If Dilbert cartoons ever taught us anything, it's that no company functions without managers.

    10. Re:Doing what Google is best at by mcvos · · Score: 1

      Reader, Google+, Inbox, Hangouts. Some people suspect Blogger might be next.

      Google used to be a place I looked for cool products to use, but it seems they don't really care about that kind of brand recognition anymore. I'm seriously considering running my own social network cloud stuff, so I don't have to rely on the benevolence of profit-driven megacorporations, or the survival of startups. Open source has always promised to put me in control, and maybe that's worth more in the long run than the convenience of corporate products.

    11. Re:Doing what Google is best at by mcvos · · Score: 1

      No one should be surprised that Google+ is going away. It never came close to achieving the market penetration they wanted, and was always this weird thing over on the side among social media sites.

      It was never a Facebook killer, but in the eyes of many, it was the best social network available for quite some time. Google has been neglecting it, though, and now it's increasingly getting overrun with spam. They've always been eager to kill popular features (Events + Hangouts was a magical combination on G+). They tried to force people on it to boost their numbers, degrading the signal to noise ratio. They were unable to appreciate it for the great interest-based social network that it was.

    12. Re:Doing what Google is best at by mcvos · · Score: 1

      Absolutely. It's easily the best social network available in my opinion, despite Google's own many attempts to sabotage it. Or at least it was the best at the time they had Events and Hangouts integrated, but before they forced Youtube users onto it.

      It was a magical place, I met a lot of great people there. It launched many small indie creators and small businesses, connecting them with their fans in the way you would want it to work. Communities sprung up where people really cared about each other.

      I'm sad to see it go, but Google has always mismanaged it. Sadder is that the users can't agree on where to go. The people who don't quite hate Facebook enough have already left for Facebook. Others are spreading out over Diaspora, MeWe, Minds, Friendica, Hubzilla, Mastodon, and a few others. I don't think we're going to be able to recreate those few golden years of Google+.

    13. Re:Doing what Google is best at by sn0wflake · · Score: 1

      To this day I am still perplexed and puzzled as to why Google made Google+ so bad. Even the simplest thing like reading a post was made extremely hard because it required multiple steps to get back to where you were, and if you made the slightest mistake you would end up in a completely different place where you were before you read the post. I have never encountered a more confusing layout ever. It seemed like it was intentionally made confusing and I have no idea what the point was in that. Tried Google+ for one hour with a lot of cursing and yelling when it was released. Never returned and it looks like I wasn't the only one who hated Google+.

    14. Re:Doing what Google is best at by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If I had an employee launching a product that the company already had or changing things just for change sake, I would fire them on the spot in front of everyone.

  4. One sign in - all services? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Google ties all services to one log in, is everything exposed in all Google services? Yikes!

    1. Re:One sign in - all services? by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The article said Google+ has been hacked not the Single Sign-in feature.
      If someone is going to hack a system, they will rarely ever do it by breaking the login screen, as their are often security holes around it that are for a good hacker, easier then trying to break the most front facing feature.

      I expect the real issue with Google+ is Google just stopped caring for it years ago, and just let stuff rot.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  5. "data leak" by geekymachoman · · Score: 1

    So in case of google, we call "getting hacked" as "data leak" or was this a feature that got discovered magically ?

  6. Why even wait that long? by SuperKendall · · Score: 0

    Seriously, what is the case for leaving this open until April instead of just shutting it down now, at least external access?

    It's funny, I remember a lot of people in the photo community being really into Google+ when it first launched. It seemed pretty clear to me it was not going to make it though.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Why even wait that long? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Why are they waiting that long? Because they are idiots, that's why.
      The first time they tried to shutter Google+, it took Youtube down for 2 hours.
      Turns out vital features in Youtube were linked with G+.
      They still are, now, as a bunch of pages in Youtube simply do not work.
      Youtube are hardly the smartest bunch around. In fact, they are some of the most incompetent.
      Never mind the fact they integrated core components of Youtube with G+, their shitty "AI" can reflag videos that were human vetted as being perfectly advertiser-friendly content. Multiple times
      They are clueless. Absolutely clueless. The kind of developers you expect to have a permanent StackOverflow tab open in Chrome. Full-potato tier developers.

      The rest of Google are no different, besides a few niche areas of the company who are pretty much just using Googles huge finances for their own personal gain until they piss off in X years and "join" a new company run by a friend who has been getting the very same research you have been doing, if not better.
      Wouldn't surprise me, many higher-up ex-Googlers have left and started their own companies, or joined others made by friends.

    2. Re:Why even wait that long? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That's because Google killed Picasa to force photos over to Google+.

    3. Re: Why even wait that long? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhm, you're behind the times! there is a Google Photos now and it never integrated with Google+

    4. Re:Why even wait that long? by mcvos · · Score: 1

      Seriously, what is the case for leaving this open until April instead of just shutting it down now, at least external access?

      There are a lot of people still using it. They're exploring options on where to move next and trying out other places, but Google+ has become their home. I like that Google announces the closing of Google+ well in advance.

      It's funny, I remember a lot of people in the photo community being really into Google+ when it first launched. It seemed pretty clear to me it was not going to make it though.

      It could easily have made it if Google had handled it better. It was the best social network for a while, but Google kept sabotaging it, and seemed to have goals that didn't align with what Google+ was.

  7. Vic Gundotra - Shit Midas by L_R_Shaw · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have no idea how this clown got hired by Google and then been put in charge of trying to create a social network. Everything he touches is shit or is turned into shit.

    One just has to watch this living and breathing manifestation of failure to see that he is the exact opposite of someone you want creating a social network.

  8. Shutting Down Early by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

    So there was a silver lining to Google+ getting hacked again?

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  9. What? Me worry? by nanospook · · Score: 1

    I keep hearing about this Google+, is it something new?

    --
    Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
    1. Re:What? Me worry? by JohnStock · · Score: 1

      You might not, but others do. I have a 180,000 follower community on there that has nowhere else to go that makes sense.

    2. Re:What? Me worry? by Dwedit · · Score: 1

      It's that thing they announced one time, but didn't let you join, thus killing the service early.

  10. Re:Awww shit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nah, it's in the millions due to all the people's eyes melting out of their sockets.

  11. Sad to see it go... by lamber45 · · Score: 1

    I've been in the habit of cross-posting stuff to FB and G+. I don't think this "breach" would have affected me, as my profile is already public. I also have a ham license, and at least one domain without "privacy" service on the WHOIS data, and listed my real home address as my registered address last time I ran for office, and use my real name as my Wikipedia handle, with my birth year listed on my user page.

    There's probably a way to subscribe to some of the stuff I was following on G+ by direct push, or on FB. I have other contacts who had been active on G+ in the past but have already gone dark there, I haven't figured out where they moved to (if anywhere) yet.

    There's a change.org petition asking for Google to keep G+ open, if anyone agrees they should.

  12. Just one more... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just one more breach and they'll schedule the site to be closed yesterday...

  13. Slashdot and Google by mikolaj · · Score: 1

    Lets play a Kurzwail for a moment ;)
    2020 - Google buys Slashdot
    2021 - Slashdot is integrated with Gmail and Youtube
    2024 - Google announced that they will shut down Slashdot within 4 months

  14. Lame by atheos · · Score: 1

    Hey Google, Instead of just taking your ball and going home, why don't you just fucking fix the problem?

  15. Google can't kill Facebook by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    Undead vampires get stronger the older they become.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  16. There is hope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That someday it will be opensourced and donated to apache foundation and renamed as Apache+.

  17. Google Apps in schools by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So I was just thinking having previously worked in a Google Apps for Education district.. all users by default had Google+ access.. Would it be safe to assume that all GAFE users have now been compromised?