Legal Question in Technology Law in California

I used to use the Google Buzz feature. It's like Twitter but for Gmail users. I like that I could define a private list of Gmail contacts who receive updates from me about things. I thought my Buzzes were private, until I Googled myself last week.

I was shocked to find that my Buzzes have all been public. The link to them does not load, BUT if you click on a cached link, a large portion is available to anyone who looks up my name. Not only that, they can see comments made by my friends who were under the impression that they were participating in a private conversation. Highly problematic because my friends and I are very sarcastic and really anyone can look me up (like my employer) and read something that's totally out of context.

I double checked my settings, and there's an explicit check mark near the "keep buzzes private." This seems like some kind of glitch which I'm afraid I might have to pay dearly for. I've since turned off Google Buzz, and the cached link STILL shows up!

Is there any legal recourse?


Asked on 10/17/10, 2:18 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Stone Law Offices of Michael B. Stone Toll Free 1-855-USE-MIKE

This ought to settle it for anybody who still wonders whether Google is evil. What they did might or might not be legally actionable. So you hire a crusading privacy rights lawyer like yours truly to test your legal theory in court. You decide to sue them. You will incur very substantial expenses for lawyers, and for expert witnesses (to explain to the judge what is Buzz). You would find yourself up against a metric buttload of Google lawyers, and that is not a place where you want to be. I think you are stuck out of luck.

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Answered on 10/22/10, 2:34 am


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