Later today, Google will ask all Google Buzz users to reconfirm their privacy settings. Since the launch of the service, which was quickly overshadowed by a major controversy around the default privacy settings, Google has made significant changes to the Buzz start-up process and privacy settings. A lot of people started using Buzz long before these changes were rolled out, however. Starting this afternoon, all existing Buzz users will see a confirmation screen that summarizes their current settings and gives them the option to change these settings, as well as the option to turn off Buzz altogether.
The gradual roll-out of this confirmation screen will begin today and will likely take a while, so there is no need to be concerned if you don’t actually get to see this screen today.
According to a blog post that will go up on the Gmail blog in the afternoon today, Google wants to ensure that even those users who joined Buzz long before Buzz automatically added people’s email and chat contacts to their social networks will see these changes. After all, not every Buzz users kept up with the day-to-day news about Buzz after the launch and many of these users are probably unaware of the changes Google has made since then.
The confirmation screen will include a link to a video that explains how Buzz works, a list of all the people you are following and who are following you. There will also be a switch that allows you to turn off the list of people you are following on your public Google profile, as well as a link to all the your sites and services that are currently connected to Buzz. At the bottom of the page, users will then be able to either accept these settings or turn off Buzz altogether.
