Bern monitors Google’s Buzz privacy problem

The Google Buzz network, which is integrated with Gmail, allows users to share postings with friends and to view and comment on items their friends share. It is widely thought to be a challenge to rival Facebook.

Privacy complaints have revealed that the company failed to properly test its new product with a public sample before the launch.

“Getting feedback from 20,000 Googlers isn't quite the same as letting Gmail users play with Buzz in the wild,” said product manager Todd Jackson earlier this week.

“We've been working around the clock to address the concerns you've raised,” added Jackson in a blog aimed at users.

The key complaint is over the automatic creation of a circle of ‘friends’ based on a Gmail user’s activity. People can see who another person has been corresponding through Gmail by clicking on to one of the social groups on the Buzz platform. This could compromise commercial deals, journalistic activity or personal relationships.

Google's Swiss headquarters in Zurich would not comment, when contacted by Swisster, as its main spokesperson was unavailable.

The company is using a third party agency to deflect local enquiries as the PR crisis is managed from California. However a spokesperson at the Swiss consumer’s forum in Bern told Swisster that “we have had no such complaints.”

Since concerns were raised, Google has said it would no longer automatically subscribe users to follow messages posted by their Gmail contacts.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt told reporters at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress this week that the company has recorded 160,000 posts or comments per hour on Buzz.

“We have made important changes . . . Now you can consciously choose with whom you want to connect to buzz,” said the CEO.

But this has not stopped the US-based Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) from making a complaint about Google’s new product to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The EPIC previously asked the same body to investigate Facebook, after changes were made to its privacy settings in December.

The Swiss government is also monitoring the situation.

“We’ve been observing all of this. It’s on the radar,” said Eliane Schmid, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDIPC)’s spokesperson.

Schmid told Swisster that Swiss residents have often contacted the FDIPC for advice on how to use social networking sites without compromising their privacy. The social networking industry has developed “very fast,” added the spokesperson.

According to Swiss law, people are supposed to be able to know what happens to their personal data, but sometimes internet users are not aware of the consequences of clicking the ‘yes’ button on the next pop up window.

The FDIPC has no power to protect people from their own actions, so it would be difficult for the government to carry out any formal complaints against Google, given that users are asked for permission to hook them up to the Buzz network.

Google has faced privacy problems in Switzerland before. In November Switzerland took the American company to court over concerns related to Google’s Street View service.

Commisioner Hanspeter Thuer said he was especially concerned about people shown in sensitive locations such as hospitals, prisons or schools. The two parties reached an agreement on 18 December.

Users have also complained about user functions which restrict movement between Buzz and other social networking sites. Google has linked up micro-blogging tool Twitter and photo-sharing sites Picassa, also owned by Google, and Yahoo!-owned Flickr.

But while tweets can show up on Buzz, Google only allows a one-way flow of information. Buzz users cannot comment back on to the Twitter portal.

With Google’s ‘war room' working frantically to rectify the problems, it seems unlikely that the Swiss government will act on this issue and has yet to venure an official position on the matter.