

House Lawmakers Voice Concern About Google Buzz - stanleydrew
http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2010/03/house-lawmakers-voice-concern.php

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j_baker
I already have accepted that I'll get downvoted for this, but does the US
Congress not have anything better to do with its time?

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roundsquare
First of all, you shouldn't get downvoted for this. I disagree with you, but
its a question that is good to ask.

Secondly, while I don't think google buzz, in itself, is something the
Congress needs to focus on, I think its good that they are looking to set
rules early on instead of waiting for an even bigger issue.

Privacy is going to be a hotly debated topic and if Congress can start talking
about it now, it will be good.

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hnsummary
Article Summary:

“A group of House Energy and Commerce members are urging the FTC to
investigate complaints that Google’s Buzz social networking service and some
of its other services may harm consumer privacy.”

One of the goals of the proposed probe would be to determine how much data
Google gathers from it’s properties such as Buzz, and how it uses this data to
target ads to users.

Google counters by saying ”user transparency and control are very important to
us, and we review all products carefully before we roll them out. When we
realized that we’d unintentionally made many of our users unhappy, we moved
quickly to make significant product improvements to address their concerns.
Our door is always open to discuss additional ways to improve our products and
services moving forward.”

I suspect Microsoft is behind much of the increased government scrutiny over
Google.

[http://hnsummary.com/2010/03/29/house-lawmakers-voice-
concer...](http://hnsummary.com/2010/03/29/house-lawmakers-voice-concern-over-
google-buzz/)

