Google faces class action lawsuit over Buzz

GOOGLE is facing legal action over claims it breached privacy laws with its controversial social networking service Buzz.

A class action lawsuit has been filed in the US on behalf of Florida resident Eva Hibnick by law firms in San Francisco and Washington, DC, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Lawyers filed the case on behalf of all Gmail users whose accounts were automatically linked to Buzz, a service that allows users to post updates and photos in a similar manner to Facebook.

The case, filed in San Jose, California, federal court, accuses the internet giant of breaking various electronic communications laws including the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

The plaintiff was reportedly seeking injunctions to prevent the company from taking similar action in the future as well as unspecified monetary relief.
The court filing noted there were 31.2 million Gmail users in January and that Google "added the Buzz program to most or all of these accounts".

Google has been fielding tough questions since the launch of the new product which users say shared their private information with others.

The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog previously reported that Google was scrambling to ward off public backlash over Buzz.

In an interview last week, Google product manager Todd Jackson said the Google Buzz product was not set in stone and that the company was working on new features, some of which would address privacy concerns.

"It’s still early, and we have a long list of improvements on the way," he said, declining to go into detail.

"We look forward to hearing more suggestions and will continue to improve the Buzz experience with user transparency and control top of mind."

The Electronic Privacy Information Centre filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission earlier this week arguing that enrolment to the product should be voluntary and that users should have more meaningful control over their information.