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Google and its Buzz technology have been hit with a class-action complaint filed by a 24-year-old Harvard Law student. Working with law firms in San Francisco and Washington D.C., Eva Hibnick filed what is the first reported suit against Google ‘s Buzz, a social network that launched last week.
According to the complaint, Google automatically signed-in Gmail users to the social network, which provided status updates and other personal information without user’s permission. Hibnick told ABC News, which first reported the suit, that “I feel like they did something wrong. They opted me into this social network and I didn’t want it.”
As news spread of the automatic opt-in, and complaints began to roll into Google, the company responded by offering ways for people to sign out of the service. However, according to the complaint, it was too late and the damage was done.
The suit alleges several federal laws were broken, including the Federal Communications Privacy Act, the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the Federal Stored Communications Act. The suit was filed in San Jose federal court on behalf of all Gmail users.
