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Ann in glos -- I'm of two minds about that "collecting information" business.
I use Google hugely for my work. In a day, I may do several hundred searches for essential research. What I'm looking for will be on government websites or international organization websites, news media websites, sometimes corporate websites, sometimes forums for discussing particular subjects.
The fact that Google seems to "know" now that I want a particular kind of result -- say, technical dictionaries, or discussions in a particular forum -- is really helpful to me.
I dunno how that works. It's magic. Grey magic. ;)
I suppose that if somebody were investigating me for something, I'd be concerned. If I were concerned on principle, I'd have to find other ways of doing research. I do remember the days when, to find one United Nations document, I'd have to drive to a government library in a snowstorm, find parking, dig through file boxes ... or to find a technical dictionary I needed for terminology, I'd have to go to the public library ... or how I used to make cold calls to people from government directories or the yellow pages who sounded like they'd know what I needed to find out ... And I wonder how I ever did my job back in the olden days!!
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Christine -- that could be -- that the 'friend' request was from a Facebook search.
It's just that the name on my Facebook page is the same as the name on that gmail account -- which isn't actually my name. ;) And it came during the week that the Buzz function was allowing people to match their inbox with Facebook pages.
Of course what I can't figure out is why, when the only thing my Facebook page says is that I appreciate 'friend' requests but will not reply to them, people keep sending 'em. ;)
Anyhow, just a nudge. It doesn't seem to be as important now that Google has altered the Buzz function, but I think I'll still stay well away from it.
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I think you will find that the person you had been communicating with found you from facebook.
Facebook has the facility to search for all people in your address book so if they allowed that, your name would come up for them as a friend suggestion.
Christine
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Gmail itself is fine but unfortunately collecting information is what google is all about. As long as we are aware we can be on our guard.
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Thank you very much for this info JaneyCanuck. I'm quite disgusted with gmail....I always sang their praises too, but no more
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I didn't know that about throwaway accounts, thanks Janey will look into that.
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Heh. I have some 20 Gmail accounts -- only one of them was used in connection with a Facebook page, and that happened to be the one I had used in communicating with the person who then tried to 'friend' me!
I think I'll stick to using my "throwaway" Gmail accounts for anywhere I have to give them on line.
If you do that, set up a throwaway account, you can then have Gmail automatically forward mail received in that account to your standard Gmail account, or a non-Gmail account, and that info *will* be private!
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Just checked out my googlemail account. Sure enough, right down the bottom of the page (amongst the bits you normally ignore) was the link to Buzz.
It is now, hopefully, turned off.
Thanks, Janey. At least my FB account has a different email address.
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Thanks very much for that Janey. I did see the Buzz thing the other day, but not knowing what it was I just ignored it lol.
Mary
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thanks for that Janey, have just followed your instructions. Not had any problems with it so didn't realise it existed until you said, but sure as anything, there it was when I went into my account. Sneaky!!!
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Thanks Janey I will go and disable it, it might explain a few doubts I have had lately over security :(
xx
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Janey,
Thanks for this information. I didn't really know what the Buzz thing was all about, and I don't do social networking sites either. I have only recently set up a gmail account, so hadn't really looked at it all.
I have now deleted Buzz!
Thank you.
Elisabeth
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After all the praise I've had here for Gmail, I feel duty-bound to report this problem here!
Last week I started seeing "Buzz" on my account, and Gmail pages urging me to try it out. It was just an annoying blob on the page, to me. I don't do "social networking".
But it turns out to be worse. A major privacy violation.
I have a Facebook page. I got it for a particular purpose. I don't use it. It says thanks but asks people not to try to "friend" me because I just don't want myself appearing on other people's Facebook pages, or them appearing on mine.
And now I find that people with whom I have exchanged emails through the email account I used for registering at Facebook have found my Facebook page -- I got a friend request from someone I had never directed to my Facebook page. (I have not done anything to activate a public profile via Gmail/Buzz, but I can't think of any other way that person would have discovered my Facebook page.)
Buzz had a thing called "auto-follow". Apparently anyone in my inbox could go find my Facebook page using my email address.
Who told Google they could tell anyone what email address I had used to register at Facebook??? Not Me.
I hadn't been able to figure out how to get rid of the annoying Buzz blob on my Gmail account pages, but now I have. A contact of mine in the government here alerted me to the problem and sent me the instructions.
When you go to your Gmail account, if you haven't been there lately, you will get the Buzz page first. Click on "Nah, go to my inbox".
In your Gmail account, click on "Settings" (upper right corner).
Near the top of the next page, you will see the "Buzz" link. Click on it.
At the bottom of the list on the next page, you will see "Disable Google Buzz". Click on it.
In the window that opens, leave the box checked for
"Also unfollow me from anyone I am following in Buzz, Google Reader, and other Google products" (that is, don't uncheck it)
and click on "Yes, delete my profile and posts".
That does it. The Buzz link will be gone from your list of message categories ( the list that says inbox, spam, etc.) and you will no longer have a "profile" that links you and your email address and Facebook page and whatever else it does.
I'm horrified. So are the people who have complained to the Privacy Commissioner in Canada and the Federal Trade Commission in the US.
And I feel I should apologize to the many people I've converted to Gmail over the years! The *anonymity* of the service was the whole entire point!!
Some articles for anyone interested:
http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/google-buzz-criticized-for-showing-gmail-contacts/139974
Some default settings mean third parties can see who Buzz users have been e-mailing. Not good if you want to keep your e-mail communication a secret
At issue is a feature that compiles a list of the Gmail contacts who users most frequently e-mail or chat with. Buzz automatically starts following these people and makes the list public, meaning strangers can see who Buzz users have been in contact with.
... There are some mitigating factors, however. Buzz only shares information about other people who are using Buzz and have set up public profiles in Google. So currently, most Gmail users are not publicly listed by the service. Users can also "unfollow" people who they don't want to be linked to.
... However, the default setting is to make the information public, and only users who click on an "edit" tab can see the choice to opt out. That means many people who start using Buzz may be publicly linked to other users without realizing it.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20000076-264.html
"This complaint concerns an attempt by Google, Inc., the provider of a widely used e-mail service, to convert the private, personal information of Gmail subscribers into public information for the company's social network service Google Buzz," the complaint (PDF) reads. "This change in business practices and service terms violated user privacy expectations, diminished user privacy, contradicted Google's own privacy policy, and may have also violated federal wiretap laws."
... Washington, D.C.-based EPIC wants more, though, and requests that the FTC:
• Compel Google to make Google Buzz a fully opt-in service for Gmail users.
• Compel Google to cease using Gmail users' private address book contacts to compile social-networking lists.
• Compel Google to give Google Buzz users more control over their information, by allowing users to accept or reject followers from the outset.
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