Google settles privacy case with FTC

The agreement was for settling the allegations regarding Google’s misleading methods and violated commitments that it made to its user’s, while stepping into the world of social networking through its Buzz social network, last year.

Google apologized for its mistakes
Jon Leibowitz, FTC Chairman said that a company should honor its words, while making privacy pledges.

This settlement ascertains that Google will remain committed to its users, and establish substantial privacy protections into all of its operations, says Jon.

Google also has to go through the 20 years’ independent audits, to ensure that its privacy policy follows the standards set in the settlement.

The report stated that Google has apologized for its mistakes regarding Buzz, in a blog post.

"The launch of Google Buzz fell short of our usual standards for transparency and user control — letting our users and Google down,” posted Alma Whitten, director of privacy, product and engineering, Google.

"While we worked quickly to make improvements, regulators — including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission — unsurprisingly wanted more detail about what went wrong and how we could prevent it from happening again. Today, we've reached an agreement with the FTC to address their concerns,” she added.

FTC watches Google as it watches its customers
Google Buzz social network, launched early last year, was developed with the hope of giving a tough competition to Facebook.

But the service, added to millions of Gmail accounts, made the Gmail users concerned about their contacts and private information’s security.

Moreover, the Buzz ‘opt-out’ options were "ineffective". According to the FTC, Google had "misrepresented" to its users that they could cancel the service.

Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy said, "The FTC has sent a powerful message to Google and the online data collection giants: We are watching you as you watch consumers.”