Google Buzz – The Downside
Buzz, Google’s brand new social networking idea is already drawing some negative feedback, especially from security experts, particularly because of its default setting.
One of the ways Google hopes to facilitate adoption is by pre-establishing users’ social networks with Gmail address books. Buzz seeds the network with email addresses of contacts with whom the user appears to communicate the most. If you are a regular G-mail user, then you especially witnessed this.
When the user accepts the default setting, the list becomes available to other Buzz users. The default setting automatically provides a list of followers comprised of those you chat or email with.
The potential for spam is also a very real problem. Spam has become endemic on social networks and Google Buzz, if and when it reaches the same mass as Twitter or Facebook will likely be similarly inundated.
While Buzz is unlikely to attract generic bots or spammers, it is possible a spammer would be interested in using it to validate an email address.
Just something else to keep in mind…
