buzz

Google is spending US$8.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed over the rollout of its Google Buzz social-networking service.

The proposed settlement was filed Friday in federal court in San Jose, California. The money will cover attorney fees and also be used to fund groups focused on Internet privacy, according to court filings.

If approved by a judge, the settlement will close a chapter on the ill-fated February launch of Google's alternative to Facebook. Buzz worried users because it made the names of users' Gmail contacts public, often without their knowledge. Google quickly addressed the issue but was soon hit with class-action lawsuits, which were eventually consolidated into this case.

A Florida woman yesterday filed a class-action lawsuit against Google Inc., charging that the new Buzz social networking tool set violates the privacy rights of users.

Eva Hibnick, a resident of Sarasota County, Fla., filed the suit in a San Jose, Calif., federal court on behalf of herself and the approximately 31 million U.S. users of Google's popular Gmail e-mail service. The lawsuit alleges that Google violated federal privacy and computer fraud laws by adding Buzz to the Gmail service last week.

A leading privacy group has urged US regulators to investigate Google's new social networking service Buzz, one week after its launch.

The Electronic Privacy Information Centre (Epic) has made its complaint to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It says that Buzz - which is part of Google's Gmail service - is "deceptive" and breaks consumer protection law. The search giant has twice made changes to the service to placate an outcry from users about privacy concerns.