Google is a great company in many ways, but their approach to privacy has always been suspect, since it directly conflicts with their revenue model, which is advertising. Consider this:
Effective advertising, in the Google model, depends on placing ads on Web pages that are relevant to what the user is doing. So if you are searching for, say, information about the Bahamas, in addition to your search results, you will see ads about Bahamas vacation deals, things to do in the Bahamas, etc.
If you have a Google account and log in before doing Google searches, the system can give you "improved results". This means that it keeps track of sites you browse and things you buy, even if you clear your browser cache. Therefore I try to remain logged out of Google while searching.
How do you think it places ads in GMail? - BY READING YOUR MAIL!! Now this is done by a computer, not a person, and it's supposed to be anonymous, and identifying information about you is not supposed to be kept, and, and, and... Sorry, but this is just too personal. I don't doubt that if a provider and I were emailing (using gmail) about what toys or lingerie I should bring to our next visit, I would see ads for vibrators and Victoria's Secret next to the email message. Creeped out yet? I thought so.
I have learnt from reliable sources from within Google that they will soon change sharing from opt-out to opt-in, that is you need to explicitly ask to share your email usage in your public profile. In the meanwhile, I don't use buzz feature and don't recommend it for anyone in the hobbying community.
Google is a great company in many ways, but their approach to privacy has always been suspect, since it directly conflicts with their revenue model, which is advertising. Consider this:
Effective advertising, in the Google model, depends on placing ads on Web pages that are relevant to what the user is doing. So if you are searching for, say, information about the Bahamas, in addition to your search results, you will see ads about Bahamas vacation deals, things to do in the Bahamas, etc.
If you have a Google account and log in before doing Google searches, the system can give you "improved results". This means that it keeps track of sites you browse and things you buy, even if you clear your browser cache. Therefore I try to remain logged out of Google while searching.
How do you think it places ads in GMail? - BY READING YOUR MAIL!! Now this is done by a computer, not a person, and it's supposed to be anonymous, and identifying information about you is not supposed to be kept, and, and, and... Sorry, but this is just too personal. I don't doubt that if a provider and I were emailing (using gmail) about what toys or lingerie I should bring to our next visit, I would see ads for vibrators and Victoria's Secret next to the email message. Creeped out yet? I thought so.
You are correct about using gmail for mailing w/o the buzz stuff.
Don't think that on FB just because you have limited your info to "friends only" it is "safe" - it's not. ANYONE that is YOUR friend and can view your pages can also get access to your friends (that may not be friends with the 3rd party).
I have not used Buzz, but I thought that the article that the OP provided was pretty clear. Yes, you would have to enable Buzz. But lots of people enable anything that pops up and they don't read the fine print.
Your Buzz network is created from your address book and email activity. As nhted mentioned, both this and your Facebook friends can be seen by anyone in your network. Perhaps this is OK for a provider who has a special page as her provider persona, but not for her clients.
I had a Facebook account that I rarely used. I got a friend request from a provider I had seen. She had found me herself - we never discussed it. Nothing against her, but I immediately deleted my entire account. I could not accept her request and appear among her Facebook friends. Too risky for me. And I knew that if she did this, other providers would as well - that's how Facebook is supposed to work, after all. It's just not for activities you would rather not advertise.
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