On the idiocy of Google Buzz...

I've been using gmail for quite some time now. It's service has been mostly good, convenient enough, and what's more, it's free. That's the email service I sign up for.

Normally, when Google comes up with new service or features, it lets users sign-up. That way, we know what we're dealing with; in particular, any private details that might get circled on the web (which is something that I hate). Even for this private blog journal of mine, everything stays anonymous. I've always intended it to stay that way.

So then, when Google came out with this Google Buzz thingy, I didn't pay much attention to it. And why should I, since I didn't sign up for it, right? Wrong. This evening, I just realized that I've got some followers, and I've also been "inadvertently" following others, both consequences I strongly do NOT want.

How did that happen? For one, I thought Facebook's Beacon was idiotic enough to try to cash in on its user base, thereby unleashing huge backlash, but now Google has succeeded in one-up'ping Facebook in idiocy, by opting in everyone in its gmail user base. Steve Jobs has it absolutely right: Google's "Don't Do Evil" mantra is all bullshit. They all want to get big and big gobs of money along the way. At least Jobs' Apple never has any pretense for it. Google and other social networking sites like Facebook are just the same bunch of hypocrites.

I was reading online about how to disable Google Buzz completely, but apparently Google has made it so convoluted that hardly anyone can figure out how many more steps (after the 10th step we took) we have to take and places we have to dig through, in order to truly turn off Buzz or unlink gmail from Buzz. Can it ever be done???

It gives me pause, looking at all the other initiatives of Google (eg. Google Books, and its green tech initiative), Buzz leads me to doubt every damn initiative of Google. How much deeply does Google want its tentacles to probe into our private and daily lives? Do I really want Google to be in my private life? While I don't jump up and down easily over privacy concerns, I absolutely hate this heavy-handed approach of Buzz.

I think I'm going to join the camp to oppose Google Books.