Google Reader team answers privacy concerns

by on December 27, 2007

The Google Reader team answered back yesterday the concerns that people had about the privacy implications of the new friends sharing feature.

  • Dileepa
    That looks like a post written by marketing.

    Google makes money by invading our privacy... what's new about that? Some day (not too far away), Google will be the biggest threat to our privacy from being just a concern right now.

    Google is EVIL. It's time everyone (including Google) 'recognizes' this fact.
  • Official response, yes.

    But no news at all, just hand waving.

    http://fhonearth.blogspot.com/2007/12/google-an...

    :(
  • Jorge / raft
    They didn't answered, they just showed again what the product does, how to share on unshare items. It's like explaning to grandma how to use the VCR. The fact that grandma can't use it it's not her fault, it's the VCR. And we're not grandma.
    What problems remain for me:
    - You can't choose between public and "friends" shared strems. Perhaps I want more than one of those.
    - Incoming shared items get lost sometimes (perhaps it's a problem of the spanish version).
    - The choosing of friends is simply impossible to understand.

    This used to be easy
  • Collette
    okay, but their "solution" doesn't solve the problem at all. in fact, I can't figure out what their solution actually does.

    I don't want everyone on my contact list to be AUTOMATICALLY subscribed to my shared items. period. and right now I can't control that.

    I want my friend Ryan to read my shared items and I want my friend Douglas to read my shared items. that's why I send them the link.

    I do not want my ex-husband to read them. I do not want colleagues to read them. I do not want ex-friend s of mine to read them. but if any of these people start using Google Reader, they've got an automatic feed on my shared items.

    Google Reader's solution isn't a solution at all. if my shared items are "public", then everyone on my contact list gets them. they haven't changed that at all.

    I want more control.
  • Collette
    okay, I've actually looked at it again.

    the only way to stop my shared items from being sent to my contacts automatically is to re-tag items when I want to share them, make the new tag public, and stop using the "Share" feature.

    so, if I want to share something, rather than hit shift-s, or click on the Share button, I have to hit Edit tags, and then type in the tag. my new tag is "share".

    this sucks.

    and yes, I know you are not Google. but you have huge pull, and so I complain to both you and straight to Google and hope this actually gets fixed this time.
  • Dude
    Dileepa, yes it is marketing, but it also answers the problems with Reader.

    I was so pissed with Google Reader, that I went back to MS Outlook over the X'mas hols .. but comments like yours piss me off even more.

    Stop being a jerk off.
blog comments powered by Disqus