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Google change triggers uproar
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by René | December 28, 2007 at 09:02 pm
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By Elise Ackerman, Mercury NewsArticle Launched: 12/27/2007 01:35:58 AM PST
A small change to Google Reader has caused a big stir among users of the online service, which lets people gather updates of blogs and Web sites onto a single Web page.
The new feature announced Dec. 14 seemed innocuous enough: It took blog posts or articles that someone had marked for sharing and made them available to everyone that person had listed as a contact or "friend" on the Google Talk messaging service.
"I like friends! I like Reader! I hope you do too," product manager Chrix Finne wrote in a blog post.
The responses came fast and furious from people who said they were upset to find that every article they had ever marked for sharing was now available to anyone they had ever chatted with over Google Talk.
"This is the worst 'feature' you have ever introduced," a user called Modulo Noh wrote in a Google Group. The remark was quickly seconded.
"The people on my contact list are not necessarily my 'friends,' " wrote Banzaimonkey. "This is a major privacy problem." Forty-two people said they agreed.
Three days later a Google employee tried to calm the crowds, assuring them that the company was listening. Then, Google closed for the winter holidays.
The brouhaha continued.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 21:23 on December 28th, 2007
I still don't trust Google's intent. They've been known to have dealings with the CIA and others, not to mention doing work for them. For Google to do this, is another breach of the user and another reason not to completely put your faith or shared messages online, especially with Google.
From now on, people will watch their web backs and will be a lot more careful when it comes to sharing. Much like those who recently discovered Comcast was slowing down their downloads on purpose because Comcast didn't think they should be downloading.
Companies are over stepping their boundaries with their customers/clients and at some point, I am hoping the employees will speak out about the evil-doings of these companies. Much like the employee who spoke out about AT&T reading all our emails and listening in on all our phone calls, much like Apple does with their new toy, iPhone. It has been printed that Apple does listen in to calls, reads and tracks all emails sent & received.
However, no one knows where all that data is going or what they are doing with it. After I read that in ExtremeTech, it killed my passion for an iPhone . . . permanently! We've all got cell phones and now we know that AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and all the rest are actually listening in to our everyday chatter.
There is a method to Google's madness. I just don't want to wake up and find they Google has been using us, the consumer, as the chicken in their huge pot of soup!!! Although I do suspect they already have! OUCH!!!!!!