Public Service Announcement: So about that Google Buzz...

So if you have Gmail, you may have noticed that they have a new little thing there called Google Buzz. Thing is, there are a lot of privacy issues that you should be aware of. Mainly that their defaults are set up so that you might be broadcasting all your details out to the world without really noticing it.

From Cnet's Google Buzz: a Privacy Nightmare:

First, you automatically follow everyone in your Gmail contact list, and that information is publicly available in your profile, by default, to everyone who visits your profile. It's available with helpful "follow" links too--wow, you can expand your Buzz network so fast by harvesting the personal contact lists of other people!

Yeah, so you know how some people have different email addresses that they don't always give out to everyone? Can you imagine the drama that could come out of this?

"Oh look, so and so buzzed and....hey, *I* never got that email address."

On top of that, let's say you've customized your Google profile page with the vanity URL Google helpfully offers at the bottom of the page. Well, that'd be your e-mail handle. Anytime anyone does an @ reply to you, they've broadcast your e-mail address to the world.

I don't have to elaborate as to why this is a problem, right?

They also have another option, thankfully one that you accept or decline but basically? It amounts to broadcasting your exact location on Googlemaps when you buzz:

I will say, thank goodness, at least Google Buzz doesn't opt you in to this creepiest feature of all: revealing your location by exact address. When you first visit the mobile app on your Android phone and attempt to post something, you'll be asked whether you want to Share Location or Decline. The "Remember this Preference" box is prechecked too, so be sure you're ready to have everyone know right where you are, whenever you post to Buzz. At minimum, uncheck the Remember button so you can decide whether to reveal your location post by post.

Stalkers of the world are rejoicing about now.

So, um...check your preferences/profile etc on Google Buzz and make sure what you want private is staying private, okay guys? If you want to turn it off completely, here's a handy guide how to turn it off: Disabling Google Buzz (And no, you don't just turn it off. That would be too easy).

In other news, it's 24 day today. I'm...pretty much ready to call it a season and drop out for at least a couple of weeks, sad to say. Maybe I just need a break from it. I mean, man, even Chuck had more of a sense of urgency last week. Between that and the genderfail, I think I might be better off just mainlining Avatar the Last Airbender in prep for the movie. At least that show had complex villains and heroes, lots of strong female characters, and actual themes about balance, family, and war. *shrug*

Public Service Announcement: So about that Google Buzz...

So if you have Gmail, you may have noticed that they have a new little thing there called Google Buzz. Thing is, there are a lot of privacy issues that you should be aware of. Mainly that their defaults are set up so that you might be broadcasting all your details out to the world without really noticing it.

From Cnet's Google Buzz: a Privacy Nightmare:

First, you automatically follow everyone in your Gmail contact list, and that information is publicly available in your profile, by default, to everyone who visits your profile. It's available with helpful "follow" links too--wow, you can expand your Buzz network so fast by harvesting the personal contact lists of other people!

Yeah, so you know how some people have different email addresses that they don't always give out to everyone? Can you imagine the drama that could come out of this?

"Oh look, so and so buzzed and....hey, *I* never got that email address."

On top of that, let's say you've customized your Google profile page with the vanity URL Google helpfully offers at the bottom of the page. Well, that'd be your e-mail handle. Anytime anyone does an @ reply to you, they've broadcast your e-mail address to the world.

I don't have to elaborate as to why this is a problem, right?

They also have another option, thankfully one that you accept or decline but basically? It amounts to broadcasting your exact location on Googlemaps when you buzz:

I will say, thank goodness, at least Google Buzz doesn't opt you in to this creepiest feature of all: revealing your location by exact address. When you first visit the mobile app on your Android phone and attempt to post something, you'll be asked whether you want to Share Location or Decline. The "Remember this Preference" box is prechecked too, so be sure you're ready to have everyone know right where you are, whenever you post to Buzz. At minimum, uncheck the Remember button so you can decide whether to reveal your location post by post.

Stalkers of the world are rejoicing about now.

So, um...check your preferences/profile etc on Google Buzz and make sure what you want private is staying private, okay guys? If you want to turn it off completely, here's a handy guide how to turn it off: Disabling Google Buzz (And no, you don't just turn it off. That would be too easy).

In other news, it's 24 day today. I'm...pretty much ready to call it a season and drop out for at least a couple of weeks, sad to say. Maybe I just need a break from it. I mean, man, even Chuck had more of a sense of urgency last week. Between that and the genderfail, I think I might be better off just mainlining Avatar the Last Airbender in prep for the movie. At least that show had complex villains and heroes, lots of strong female characters, and actual themes about balance, family, and war. *shrug*