Google pays $8.5m to settle Buzz privacy invasion suit

Google has agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit claiming it violated the privacy of Gmail users when it released Google Buzz, a Gmail bolt-on that turned the email service into a Tweetbookish social networking tool. The suit in question consolidates several civil cases filed against the company over …

[Mike Green]

Why not actually pay the people whose privacy it violated?

Surely the class action should mean it pays everyone whose email it exposed since these were probably scrapped by every bot in the world... Which probably means it owes everyone with an email address...

[Sureo]

Pay the people?

But the lawyers will get paid....

[JaitcH]

If Google has agreed to pay $8.5 million ...

How much of a bill will Facebook look at for it's serial privacy breaches?

[James Woods]

what kind of class-action is this?

In class-actions the victims usually get money (not much but somethnig).

What the hell is this where google can just donate tax free money to an organization that it will form or already has ties with?

Okay so let me translate this.

Or wait, let google translate it so it makes more sense.

As far as I know my google buzz is still enabled in my gmail account and i've had the gmail account before buzz existed and never turned it on.

I thought it was all diabled? Im calling my lawyer.

[Anonymous Coward]

Worth the bother?

OK, so will some menial little nobody be ordered down to accounts to get out some petty cash then? $8.5m for Google? If Serg and cohort had a look down the back of the sofa, they could find that in loose change!

Seriously, this is balls. What about fining them something more viable like, I dunno $250m? Still pretty much peanuts to Google and their ilk, but would make more of a statement.