FTC Asked to Investigate Google Buzz
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the privacy issues surrounding the launch of Google Buzz.
Although many of the initial issues with the service have been resolved, a lot of people are still steamed about the fact that when the service launched, a list of your most-emailed contacts was available to your "followers" by default. And your "followers" included pretty much anyone you've ever sent an email to.
A commenter on Mashable remarked that while "privacy was invaded … I do not want tax dollars paying to investigate it just for the government to take some of Google's money and slap them on the wrist."
It's a valid point. Is this worth the time and attention of the federal government? On one hand, the system is broken if a company can do this and get away with it. On the other, policing the situation won't really change anything after the fact, nor will it have much of an effect on the growth of the company.
There have already been class-action suits filed against Google over the Buzz launch. This may be the sort of thing that's best settled directly between Google and those with complaints rather than dragging the FTC into things.
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