Google's latest PRIVACY MELTDOWN: Web chats sent to WRONG people

Stunned Google Talk users have discovered their messages are going to the WRONG recipients on the web chat system. Conversations appear to be funnelled to anyone on your contacts list rather than just the intended receiver. The advertising giant is aware of the cock-up, but has yet to fix the glitch. It means that netizens …

[Captain Hogwash]

Probably too obvious and predictable but...

"It means that netizens should not have any expectation of privacy when chatting confidentially to their buddies via Google Talk (aka GChat) and Google Hangouts until the bug is crushed."

[mraak]

Re: Probably too obvious and predictable but...

C'mon man, don't be evil :/

[VinceH]

Re: Probably too obvious and predictable but...

@Captain Hogwash

You almost edited it to reveal the true case, but not quite:

"It means that netizens should not have any expectation of privacy when chatting confidentially to their buddies via Google Talk (aka GChat) and Google Hangouts anything until the bug is crushed."

[BillG]

Re: Probably too obvious and predictable but...

It means that netizens should not have any expectation of privacy when chatting confidentially to their buddies via Google Talk (aka GChat) and Google Hangout

Is this really something new from the company who's new official motto is "Sign up for Google+ now or we'll break your legs"?

[John H Woods]

Obvious but ...

"Complaints about GChat, meanwhile, are continuing to pile up"

... in someone else's inbox?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: GChat ...

or just s/a/q/ for a tenuous current affairs joke.

[garden-snail]

Not Surprised

This doesn't surprise me at all. The audio quality of DAB radio is a huge backwards step from FM, and the coverage in the UK is abysmal. Add on the cost of the receivers and their power-hungriness and you've got yourself a losing horse.

[DJV]

Re: Not Surprised

Ah, I see what you did there - upvoted - pretty good as the DAB article was the one I'd just read prior to this.

[cyborg]

Re: Not Surprised

I don't think that anyone should be surprised that the Government's policy on digital copyright is pretty much written by Google lobbists.

[Arachnoid]

Err.........

No wonder the girlfriends husband thought I was coming on to him.......

On a serious note does the protocol also shunt all messages direct to the NSA too?

[Robert Helpmann??]

Re: Err.........

On a serious note does the protocol also shunt all messages direct to the NSA too?

Yes, by design. Perhaps this is another example of government surveillance software getting out of control à la Stuxnet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Err.........

"No wonder the girlfriends husband thought I was coming on to him......."

Publicly admitting an affair there are we?

[Tigra 07]

Re: Err.........

If your girlfriend has a husband then do you all share a bed with her in the middle or do you get 4 days with her then 4 days without?

[Steven Raith]

Re: Err.........

I offered to marry my mates wife once. She thought it was awful bigame.

*b'doom-tish*

I'm here alll night, try the waitress, tip the veal....

Steven R

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: bigame

bigamy.

[Steven Raith]

Re: bigame

Damnit!

The pun did work though, right?

Steven R

[Anonymous Coward]

Fixed already.

http://www.google.com/appsstatus#hl=en&v=issue&ts=1380220199000&sid=3&iid=2115900d3a8ac9a969139e5db5f60052

Hardly a "meltdown", and hardly "continuing to pile up."

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Fixed already.

From your link: Google Talk service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users in the near future. Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change.

Clearly not fixed, just a little sign of things to come for the permanent beta that is Google web services.

[Jordan Davenport]

Re: Fixed already.

The problem that caused it may not be fixed, but it appears to be no longer causing issues. Those logs also state "Any messages sent after 01:30 PDT are unaffected."

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Fixed already.

Also states "will provide an update when full service is restored", that's the last post from 7:35 last night when I posted my previous AC. Google apologists would be all over this if it was Azure that'd fucked up for this long and still wasn't fixed...

[phil dude]

pidgin...

And OTR, then it doesn't matter.... apart from the need to resend ;-)

P.

[steward]

Reminds me of an oldie but goodie from the dead tree era...

"I know some people feel that marriage as an institution is dying out, but I disagree and the point was driven home to me rather forcefully not long ago by a letter I received which said: 'Darling, I love you and I cannot live without you. Marry me, or I will kill myself.' Well, I was a little disturbed at that until I took another look at the envelope and saw that it was addressed to 'Occupant.' " - Tom Lehrer

[Arachnoid]

Occupant

Was it from your local energy supplier?

[ZenCoder]

I use google voice and experienced this.

I use an adapter that plugs into my ethernet and allows me to use google voice/google chat as my land line connection, so do three of my friends, and several more use google voice as a unified phone number.

So far I have received one mangled voice mail which started with one friend leaving me a message and ended with a 2nd talking to a receptionist to schedule a medial appointment. The middle part was them talking over each other so neither could hear the other speak.

[bag o' spanners]

Yay! Chatroulette 2.0

[Caesarius]

Sanity check

I know I would expect service where it is promised, so I sympathise with anyone dismayed by this, but perhaps it is just as well to reflect on the inherently insecure aspects of many forms of communication.

[vonRat]

I've always worked on the assumption that anything I type into a computer could be read by anyone in the world, or maybe everyone. Thanks to modern technology, it's becoming almost impossible to guarantee that you are communicating with someone confidentially.

[The Envoy]

I am sure this is just another clever part of the KitKat sell-thru campaign.

Just stay calm and have another piece of chocolate.

[LordHighFixer]

netizens should not have any expectation of privacy. period, end of story. Always has been, always will be.

[ecofeco]

I'm at a loss for words

Literally,

[Gannon (J.) Dick]

what the company said was a "dual network failure".

Translation:

1. we screwed up

2. you trusted us to begin with

Not to be confused with "network failure" (this is entirely your fault) or the synonymous "The Blue Screen of Death" used by barbarian tribes from the North.

[Pascal Monett]

"We are already looking into this."

I would have hoped that you had looked into this during the trials to see if the stuff worked properly, but obviously that was not something that was tested.

After all, why test that IMs get to the intended recipient in a chat session ? That's just a waste of time, innit ? Especially on a Friday evening, which has to be when this service was put into production.

Yes, production. Sorry, but when you roll out something to all and sundry you can call it beta all you want, it's in production.

Might want to think about that next time.