In 2011, Google paid $1 million to the Electronic Frontier Foundation as part of a class-action settlement involving privacy issues connected to Google Buzz, its social-networking product. The settlement reflected allegations that Buzz’s design and rollout created privacy harms for users, although the supplied source does not detail the underlying technical failures or identify an executive held personally responsible. The account establishes the payment as a court-related settlement, not a finding that a named individual committed misconduct.
The settlement’s aftermath generated a second controversy over accountability. The Electronic Privacy Information Center and seven other privacy-focused nonprofits objected that Google and the plaintiffs’ lawyers had effectively arranged for most of the money to go to organizations that were paid by Google to lobby or consult for the company; the EFF was among the organizations criticized. Facebook provided an additional $1 million through a similar settlement. The episode highlighted a structural problem in privacy litigation: monetary awards intended to address consumer harm can also create perceived conflicts when recipient advocacy groups have financial relationships with the companies involved.
