Google Buzz may put children at risk, parents fear

Parents and privacy watchdogs are sounding the alarm that Google's new social networking tool, called Buzz, may put children at risk. Google had already drawn sharp criticism from privacy watchdogs for the way it rolled out Buzz in millions of Gmail accounts.

Privacy expert Kathryn Montgomery, a professor at American University, urged the Federal Trade Commission to address the potential risks to kids. "Google Buzz is a new danger zone for children," Montgomery said. Google said it had no specific plans to tweak Buzz in response to parents' privacy concerns. In a statement, spokesman Scott Rubin said: "We designed Buzz to make it easy to have conversations with your friends about the things that interest you. Keeping kids safe online is very important to us." It can also be tricky. Privacy watchdogs have successfully hounded social networks in the past for not taking sufficient steps to protect children from predators and other dangers. By adding Buzz to its popular e-mail service, Google has brought new attention to how kids use Gmail and raised questions about how they may use it.