GOOGLE AND FTC SETTLE BUZZ PRIVACY ISSUES

Google's lawyers can collectively breathe a sigh of relief, as the FTC has accepted an earlier proposal relating to Buzz's numerous privacy violations. The service -- which already settled one suit and is scheduled for rendezvous with the grim reaper -- was singled out by the commission for misleading users by partially opting them in, even after they had explicitly declined to do so. As punishment, Google will be required to field yearly audits from an independent party for the next twenty years.

GOOGLE BUZZ GOES BYE BYE

Google announced on Friday that it is shutting down a number of properties in the coming months, the most notable of which is likely its failed social network, Google Buzz. Best known as that annoying thing under “Inbox” in Gmail, Google Buzz was a Twitter-like service that never gained traction. Buzz encouraged users to share status updates, photos and more that could then be viewed by friends in real time, however it offered no compelling features compared to already established services such as Facebook and Twitter.

Google will also shutter several additional services in the near future, including Jaiku, a social network the company acquired in 2007, and Code search, a tool that helped programmers search for open source code. Google Buzz will shut down in the coming weeks while Jaiku and Code Search will both go offline on January 15th, 2012 along with a few other seldom-used Google services.

GOOGLE TO PAY $8.5 MILLION FOR BUZZ PRIVACY ISSUES

Back when Google first launched their social networking site Buzz, they shared user's private information without the user's consent.  Now, Google has agreed to pay those who sued them over the issue, $8.5 million and "disseminate wider public education about the privacy aspects of Google Buzz" as part of the settlement of the class action lawsuit. [AFP via Google News]