What the Google Buzz-FTC Settlement Means for the "Apology Approach" to Innovation

When Silicon Valley companies stumble, the consequences have generally been minimal -- a few waves of invective from users and the tech press. But the Federal Trade Commission settlement over Google Buzz could change that.

Google Buzz was launched with the classic Apology Approach: the social network was fairly well -- but not completely -- thought through. And when users started railing against the fact that it de facto looped in all Gmail users, seemingly without their permission, the company simply apologized and implemented some tweaks. The FTC settlement clearly said the do-first-fix-later approach wasn't good enough, not when it comes to users' personal data. And as a result, for the first-time ever, the FTC took the unusual step, it said in its settlement, of requiring a company to implement a comprehensive privacy program -- including 20 years’ worth of privacy audits.