Blacklaw writes “Google has publicly apologised for the mistakes it made during the launch of its Twitter-like social networking tool Buzz, and claims that it’s learned its lesson — and will be undergoing independent privacy reviews to keep it on the straight and narrow.”

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CWmike writes “The Obama administration is considering plans to step up policing of Internet privacy issues and to establish a new position to direct the effort, reports the WSJ, which cites unnamed sources. Any push for stronger federal oversight over online privacy is likely to be welcomed by privacy advocates increasingly concerned about the data-collection and data-sharing practices of big Internet and marketing companies. High profile cases such (more…)

eldavojohn writes “Google’s Buzz service will cost the company $8.5 million in settling a class action lawsuit related to the privacy debacle from the days after its release. Ars reports: ‘In the proposed settlement submitted to the court this week, Google agreed to make efforts to better educate Buzz users on issues of privacy and the particular privacy features that Buzz offers. Additionally, Google also agreed to pay out $8.5 million to a fund (more…)

A Microsoft identity guru bit Apple and smacked Google over mobile privacy policies. In fact, Microsoft’s Chief Identity Architect accused Apple and Google of trying to bury privacy alive.

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Nearly 500 million people worldwide are on Facebook. Is there a limit to how much we’ll share? CEO Mark Zuckerberg is betting there isn’t.

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Yahoo and federal prosecutors are embroiled in a privacy battle testing whether the Constitution’s warrant requirements apply to Americans’ e-mail. The legal dust up concerns a 1986 law that allows the government to obtain a suspect’s e-mail from an ISP or webmail provider without a probable-cause warrant…

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