Has Google walked into it again or are they deliberately trying to hack people off? - A view by Peter Toner, Toffsmen.
A class action lawsuit is allegedly being launched in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. on behalf of one Eva Hibnick.
Hibnick is a Florida woman who has been chosen to represent the 31.2 million Gmail users who feel used and exposed with the launch of Buzz.
Hibnick's lawyers allegedly accuse Google of breaking laws with respect to legal communications by effectively making the contents of her Gmail account available to the public!
Specifically, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is alleged to have been contravened.
This act covers such infractions as ’Compromising the Confidentiality of a Computer’ and ‘Knowing Transmission and Intentional Damage.’
How much money is being claimed hasn’t been specified. But with 32 million mouths to feed, presumably it will be sizeable.
Since the launch of Buzz, Google are apparently hurriedly making amends to put confidentiality issues right.
But isn’t this happening with Google a lot?
Only a month ago the Google Android telephone was launched amid howls of derision from the public that the phone doesn't do what it claims to do yet ties you into an expensive contract.
Some argue that Google has a cheek to charge hundreds of dollars for what is effectively ‘Open Source Software’ - predominantly developed by the online community in their spare time with only modifications to it being made by Google.
Even the estate of the late Philip Dick around whose novel, ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ the story Blade Runner is based on, is allegedly suing Google for use of the term Android and Nexus 1. Google argues that Dick never registered the words as Trademarks so they’re free to use them...
Nice...
Perhaps Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch are more on the ball than Google would want us to believe.
In a recent rant Steve Jobs reportedly said, “The Google, ‘Don’t be Evil’ mantra is Bullshit”. He tried to deny this later but can't deny that that is what he meant!
And last week, Murdoch referred to Google as ‘Parasites’
A lot of people are beginning to agree.
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