Google Buzz was hit hard by a lot of complaints, including one woman who complained that Google automatically followed her abusive ex-husband.  Google responded and seems to be correcting course and moving from an auto-follow to an auto-suggest model.

This should be a lesson to all programmers.  Instead of an automatic do-it-ourself model, we should give the user the options to check all, uncheck all, or select for themselves.  Otherwise, we could make the New York Times in not such a good way.

Personally, I opted into Google Buzz the first day.  Right after I saw who it followed, I dropped it like a hot rock and quit.  Maybe I’ll give it another go around.

–Ben

Sources:  Gmail Blog, Techcrunch, CNet, Business Insider, New York Times

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