Google Buzz launched, and it seems to do some fun stuff, but it also broke a lot of peoples’ privacy assumptions and privacy models. That was bad. But for me, the most disappointing thing was that Google never said “oops, my bad”. Instead, every post on the official Google blogs has been in the chirpy dishonest speech of someone trying to sell us stuff.
Google! You made your reputation on being funky and honest and nerdy! This chirpy too-smooth marketroid-speak does not become you! It makes everyone trust you less, not more. The truth is, that for many people, Buzz shipped broken. It violated their privacy models and exposed their private data to the world without their consent. And you never ever said “oops” or “my bad” or anything. I guess it’s foolish to expect honest and forthright communication signals from a large company, but it’s sad to see it happen to you, big G.
