Google launched the Buzz service in early February.  Google Buzz is the search and advertising giant’s misguided attempt to create a social network that would rival Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, and Bebo.  As with everything else Google has done, they arrived late to the game, put their interests above those of their customers, and asked us to trade our basic right to Internet privacy away in order to use their fantastic new service.  It’s still too early to know definitively, but it looks like this time we didn’t fall for it.  They’ll have to go back to the drawing board if they want to cash in on social network advertising.

There’s been a lot of hullabaloo on the web over the past few weeks about Google Buzz’s faulty privacy measures.  The first issue is that Google just launched Buzz without telling anyone how it would affect them.  So one day everyone logs into Gmail and sees this Buzz crap.  What’s that about?  Don’t we have a right to decide what we want to run and what we don’t?  Sure you can turn it off, but the point is that it should’ve been our choice to turn it on in the first place.

The next issue is the “autofollow” setting.  It seems that part of the end user agreement (which no one reads because if they did they’d realize their Gmail isn’t private) authorizes Google to publicly publish a list of everyone you talk to over Google Buzz.  So you chat with friends and send a few emails, and the world knows it.  This isn’t the same as FaceBook which can be configured so that your friends can’t even see your friends list let alone the general public.  Now anyone who wants to can see who you communicate with.  It’s hard for me to imagine a more horrific violation of privacy, although I guess capturing your credit card numbers from your Gmail and posting those publicly would be worse.

Am I overreacting?  I don’t think so, but then again I hardly ever think I’m overreacting .  Imagine how fun your life would be if you got an email from an old girlfriend who found you on Google Buzz and you didn’t even answer her.  And your wife looks at your list of autofollowers and wants to know who this woman is.  That’ll be a fun discussion.  I don’t know about you, but I do not want a public list of everyone I email.  That would not be a good move for a security practitioner.

And finally, the GPS functionalities on Google Buzz Mobile really push the limits of privacy.  I would also suggest that this could put you in actual physical danger.  They’ve integrated Google Buzz with Google Maps.  So you pull your phone out of your pocket and post your latest status to Buzz.  Now everyone who follows you sees where you are on their Google Map.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I want everyone who follows me to know where I am all the time.  At the very least, they now know you’re not at home and they can go rob you.  Or imagine if your son gets in an argument with his friend who can then track him down in the mall parking lot using Google Maps and attack him.  Google claims they’ll add the option to turn this off at an undisclosed future date.  Stop and think about it for a minute.  If Google can do this with Google Buzz, then what stops them from using the GPS in your mobile phone from tracking you at all times so they can serve location based ads?

Here’s what you can do:

1. Disable Buzz entirely by scrolling to the bottom of the Buzz page and selecting “turn off Buzz”.
2. Disable Autofollow: Go to your Google Profile page settings and uncheck the box which was thoughtfully checked by default labeled “Display the list of people I’m following and people following me.”
3. Block a single person from following you: click on her name in your list of followers and then choose to block her.
4. Turn off GPS features: Never mind, you can’t do that.

This represents a larger pattern of Google behavior.

I have been writing about the evil of Google for years and years.  And no one listened.  People seem shocked that Google is willing to violate their privacy in order to make a quick buck.  But their entire business model is built on violating our privacy.  Their browser toolbar monitors the web sites we visit.  They monitor what we search for and they know what ads we view.  They read and analyze Gmail so they can target us better for ads.  Google Desktop is a quick way to find information on your computer, and a quick way for Google to learn just what is on your computer.  Are you running their browser, their OS, or using their phone?  Add up everything they know about you and it gets pretty damn scary.  They probably know you better than your mother does.  And I promise you that it will get worse.

Why will it get worse?  Because Google is being handsomely rewarded by Internet advertisers and Wall Street investors.   They’ve systematically robbed us of our privacy so much more egregiously than any of their competitors and they’re laughing all the way to bank.

We’ve come a long way since two college kids sat in our offices at PC Magazine and showed us their snazzy new search algorithms.  Google isn’t about search anymore, and it sure as hell isn’t about a couple of excited and brilliant kids.  They are a full-fledged advertising company who will sell your privacy for a buck (or less).  The spirit of simply being a better search engine has been dead for years.

The question is, how long will you tolerate their violations of your privacy?