If you want to see if there's anything on Buzz from you, you can check your profile:
http://google.com/profiles/username
This is mine, and the only things on there are what I deliberately added to test it.
That said, you might want to turn it off simply in order to not get annoying Buzz emails. That being the case, this article is more pertinent.
At any rate, never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobileWhen I opened the Buzz folder (which I did not request) I had 9 people following me and I was following 11 people (None of which I wish to follow or be followed by). Then it shows me conversations between all those people since Buzz has started.
Let's say one of those people was an old girlfriend, ex-wife, current supervisor -- any of them could jump into that stream or just observe it to see who knows who.
Google is not a stupid company, they had this working in house amongst Google employees for 12 months (the former project lead was on This Week in Google yesterday explaining it), they had to have put great thought into this design choice. This was a calculated decision (speculation) to drag as many users into what they see as one of their biggest services in the company's history (to take some of the real-time social real estate).
EDIT: I see what you mean about the profile, I agree with you, I don't think that's an issue at all. Profiles where searchable before. In any case, Google clearly knows they crossed the line since they have apologized and is now reversing their course. I think this was a case of "it's better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission"
What was not properly understood is privacy of association, as you said, people can see who you know. Also, depending, it may mix professional with personal, which is another can of worms. If you're willing to say Google would be prudent enough to understand the problems, I'd think it would be just as valid to say they would have foreseen the consequences.
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobileYodariquo said:...
What was not properly understood is privacy of association, as you said, people can see who you know. Also, depending, it may mix professional with personal, which is another can of worms. If you're willing to say Google would be prudent enough to understand the problems, I'd think it would be just as valid to say they would have foreseen the consequences.
True.
Ravenprose said:Google sucks.
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobile---
Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobileYodariquo said:hmm, I wonder if Google's ever going to create a more integrated environment. Right now it has things like Picasa and Youtube that not only function like different sites, but look completely different and are even at different domains. Even stuff accessed through Google like Reader and Gmail are still disjointed. If they had one centralised "Google" site where it flowed interchangeably and naturally, it seems like that would be a lot more successful way of generating social networking than what Buzz is trying to do.
Closest thing to that is google.com/dashboard. Check it out whil eyou are logged in to your google account.
This is important for all of you who use gmail.
link
Google broke their "do no evil" rule again. If you have gmail you've been signed up for (without your consent) their new service that aims to compete with Facebook and Twitter.
Short version: At the very bottom of your gmail page there is an option to "Turn Off Buzz" You may want to do that if you don't have time to research the implications of opting into the service.