The latest social networking service from Google might undergo some troubles as a class action lawsuit is filed in the San Jose federal court. The lawsuit accuses Google of breaking a number of laws relating to cyber communication, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The case has been filed on behalf of Eva Hibnick by law firms in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.. Eva is a Florida woman who has been chosen to represent the 31 million plus Gmail users during the case trial.
Google Buzz has been facing various issues regarding user privacy from the very first day of its release. The service automatically adds friends and followers to an existing Gmail user picking up contact from their frequent e-mail and IM communications. It allows the followers to see updates of the other user including IMs and photos and information on other Google services like Blogger, Picasa and Reader. Google has been trying to make changes to the service and also allowing the users to disable Google Buzz completely from their account.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint against Google that the user should be allowed to ‘opt-in’ for the service instead of an ‘opt-out’ model. Google turned Gmail “into a social networking service and that’s not what they signed up for, Google imposed that on them without getting their consent,” said Kimberly Nguyen, consumer privacy counsel with EPIC of Washington, D.C. “The bottom line is, users should have meaningful control over their information.”
Google has not received any legal notice so far and hence declined to comment on the lawsuit. The class action lawsuit entitles Google to compensate its 31 million Gmail users, if convicted.
via [SanFranciscoChronical]
