Google+, kindly meet privacy issues

There’s a snafu with the recently released Google+, where potential problems have already been spotted concerning the issue of privacy. Google’s latest attempt at social networking allows you to categorize people you know into different circles, letting you share with friends what you do not want your family to know – however, there is a feature which allows you to reshare what someone else has posted. Logically speaking, the resharing ability allows the original post to go beyond the “circle of trust”, as Gaylord Focker would put it.

The loophole was first spotted by the eagle eyed folks over at the Financial Times, but it is nice to know that such a loophole was discovered so early into the game, considering Google+ is still in limited trial, with users finding some rough edges in the process.

Google stated that “we’re actively listening to feedback from our testers. Prior to launching the product, we may make adjustments to the system in response to this feedback.”

In the mean time, just disable resharing by clicking on a button which appears the moment a post is published, although there is no universal “shut off” feature to overcome this. Just goes to show that even behind the relative anonymity that the Internet provides, you still got to be responsible for what you post.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Computers
Tags: Google, Google+, Privacy