Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Google Announces Buzz Privacy Lawsuit Settlement via E-mail

by Amar Toor on November 3, 2010 at 09:50 AM

google buzz settlement email
Yesterday, Google announced that it had reached a settlement in a class-action privacy lawsuit targeting its Buzz social networking service. But instead of issuing another boring old press release, the company was mandated to reveal the settlement details in an e-mail addressed to those whom the lawsuit concerns most -- its Gmail users.

"Google rarely contacts Gmail users via e-mail, but we are making an exception to let you know that we've reached a settlement in a lawsuit regarding Google Buzz," reads Google's e-mail, which was sent to all U.S.-based Gmail users. The lawsuit originally arose because of privacy breaches related to Google Buzz. The settlement requires Google to contribute $8.5 million to a privacy education fund -- but, as Google points out in its email, the company will not compensate individual users. According to Google, the settlement includes all Gmail users in the U.S., save for those who opt out of the class-action before December 6th. A U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose will hold a hearing on January 30th, 2011 to rule on the fairness of the settlement.

Tags: buzz, google, GoogleBuzz, lawsuit, LawsuitSettlement, privacy, SocialNetworking, top

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular