Google caught in privacy row as Buzz goes bad

Google is being threatened with legal action over its social network, Google Buzz, amid furious claims the service breaches users' privacy.

A week after starting the service with high hopes it could lure internet users' attention away from Facebook and Twitter, Google is embroiled in a technical and public relations nightmare.

The pioneering internet company has again apologised to users, and said it was working round the clock to make extra alterations to Buzz, on top of emergency changes imposed last week.

Google said last week that it was creating a vast social network from scratch by harnessing the 180 million users of its Gmail email service, converting parts of their contacts lists into Facebook-style "friends" who could share status updates, pictures and links.

But users revolted when they realised that their contacts could see who they had been emailing - something that could reveal everything from private business relationships to romantic affairs.

Angry users have deluged Google with complaints and conversation in chatrooms has turned to legal action.

In Israel, one Gmail account holder has begun a lawsuit she hopes can be joined by other users.

Amal Jaraisy said she had lodged the suit on behalf of people who "woke up one morning and found that the details of the people with whom they have open or covert contact are exposed to the entire world", according to the newspaper Haaretz.

Google had bypassed the careful testing that it usually insists upon for new products, trialling Buzz only using internal staff. Shelly Palmer, technology and media consultant and founder of Advanced Media Ventures, said the company had been caught unawares by the reaction of its public users.

"Anyone who understands the Google mindset could not have expected them to get this right," he said.

"Everywhere they go, they try to apply mechanistic efficiency. They looked at Facebook and said, 'You have to invite people? How ridiculous! We'll just look at who you email most and hook up those people right now.'

"This wasn't a malicious attack on your privacy. It was just Google's attempt to create a social network with no fuss."

Google now makes it easier for users to keep contacts private, to block people from following them and to unsubscribe from Buzz.

Further changes under consideration include setting up Google Buzz as a standalone website.

TOO REVEALING

* Google Buzz, started last week, is Google's new social hub in its email service Gmail.
* Google Buzz lets Gmail users post updates about what they are doing or thinking and share those with the rest of the world or with only a select group of people.
* Users complained when they realised their contacts could now see who they had been emailing.
* This could reveal everything from private business relationships to romantic affairs.

- INDEPENDENT