Google has received a stinging attack from leading privacy regulators. The online giant came under fire after it had launched a new service called Buzz that took what had previously been private data from its Googlemail service and turned that into publicly available data through Buzz. Buzz is Google's attempt to rival Facebook, the social networking phenomenon. Data protection and privacy regulators from 10 countries, including the UK, France, Germany and Canada have written a strongly worded letter criticising Google's practices. They said:
'Too often, the privacy rights of the world's citizens are being forgotten as Google rolls out new technological applications...This was not the first time you have failed to take adequate account of privacy considerations when launching new services...It is unacceptable to roll out a product that unilaterally renders personal information public, with the intention of repairing problems later as they arise...Privacy cannot be sidelined in the rush to introduce new technologies to online audiences around the world...Google pay lip service to privacy.'
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