Despite Changes, Buzz Still Violates Privacy Say Gmail Users Suing Google

Web users suing Google about its new Buzz platform argue in new court papers that the program continues to infringe on their privacy notwithstanding recent tweaks.

"Despite making several rounds of modifications in the week after introducing Buzz, Google has not sufficiently altered the Buzz program to remedy the ongoing privacy violations," Gmail users allege in an amended complaint filed recently in U.S. District Court in San Jose. The new complaint consolidates seven individual lawsuits filed against Google between February and June. The consumers allege that Google violated federal wiretap laws with Buzz, which created social networks out of people's Gmail contacts.

At its launch, in February, the feature revealed information about the names of users' email contacts, if users activated Buzz without changing the defaults. Since then, Google has significantly revised the service; now, it merely suggests followers, rather than automatically creating them.

"When we realized we'd unintentionally made some users unhappy, we moved quickly and make significant product improvements to address their concerns," a Google spokesman said. "We're continuing to make more improvements based on feedback from users."