On Saturday 13 February Google issued a statement on the official Gmail blog, attempting to salvage the search giant’s biggest and most epic fail to date.

Buzz was automatically added onto the Gmail account of every single user. The initial configuration of the product was such that information from Gmail profiles became immediately available to a network of friends created by Google, based on contacts that users most frequently interact with. This network was then visible to a vast audience, widely revealing the personal contact lists of users, with severe repercussions.

It seems Google forgot that people don’t use Gmail only to interact with their actual friends. Secret lovers, business associates, confidential journalistic sources and anonymous commentors within the blogosphere were all blatantly exposed.

It also seems that Google has not read a news article in the past few months. If it had it would have noticed the harsh criticism suffered by Facebook (which Buzz was set to rival) because of its privacy shortcomings, and might’ve been more careful to protect its users’ information.

In the Gmail blog post, product manager Todd Jackson said that the company was working to correct certain aspects of Buzz based on user feedback.

“We quickly realized that we didn’t get everything quite right,” Jackson said. “We’re very sorry for the concern we’ve caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback.”

“…concern we’ve caused” – understatement much?

Google has since amended the Buzz service by no longer facilitating auto-follow of existing contacts. Instead it generates a list of suggested followers, giving users the option to accept or deny certain contacts. It also made the checkbox for the option to hide a contact list more prominently visible, following complaints that its initial location was confusing.

The whole episode has excited privacy activists as well as Google’s seasoned critics, who for years have claimed that the company’s primary aim is to collect and expose as much information as possible.

Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington told the NYTimes that the group plans to file a complaint regarding Google Buzz with the Federal Trade Commission because the service was deceptive and unfair.

Google’s behaviour over the past year has seen an uncomfortable change. There seems to be too much innovation and very little preparation or evaluation. It’s all becoming a bit too publicity stuntish and deviant from the classy and trustworthy Google I used to know.

Related posts:

1. Will Google Wave Goodbye to Buzz?
2. Social Networking: Should Google Buzz stay or should it go?
3. Google Search to Produce “Google Me”?

Google you’ve changed. It’s definitely not me, it’s you.