Information Technology Law

Google released this week that it was settling a class action lawsuit that began over its new social networking service, Google Buzz, which integrates user’s Gmail accounts with the product’s social networking function. The .5m settlement will be officially approved 31 January, 2011.

The much awaited class action settlement hinges on the fact that on its launch, Google Buzz automatically included all Gmail users. User’s gmail contacts were made public as a consquence.

Google provided users a an opt-out alternative, but this was insufficent for quite a few who believed the system was deceptive and complicated. A 2nd year Harvard law student was among them.

As medical practices become more advanced, staff members are starting to gain better access to the Internet during work. Cyber-slacking is a well-known problem in the corporate sphere: one study found that over thirty-five percent of employees admitted that they used the Internet for personal surfing during work hours. The New York Times cited that twenty-five percent of Net use on work computers isn’t actually related to the work at hand. Although it is not known how severe the problem is in the medical field, the trend continues to grow.