Well, it looks like the spectre of Buzz will be looming large over Google for some time to come — the company has just reached an agreement with the FTC that will see it receive independent privacy audits every two years for the next twenty years following a ruling that found Google violated its own privacy policy with the service. In a blog post today, Google also says that it will now “ask users to give us affirmative consent” before it makes any changes in how it shares their personal information, and it adds that it would like to “apologize again for the mistakes we made with Buzz.” As for the FTC, chairman Jon Leibowitz describes the settlement as a “tough” one, and says simply that “when companies make privacy pledges, they need to honor them.”

Official Google Blog, FTC

Ever since the Nexus S and its nifty little NFC chip hit the market, there’s been speculation that El Goog was planning a foray into the mobile payment arena currently occupied by the likes of Charge Anywhere. Now, it looks like that plan may be in high gear, as the Wall Street Journal reports that Google’s secretly partnered with MasterCard and Citigroup to test out just such a system. According to the publication, the early demo pairs “one current model and many coming models of Android phones” with existing Citigroup-sponsored credit and debit cards, and is using the phones’ NFC chips with those VeriFone readers we recently heard about.

What’s more, a newly-published patent application from the crew in Mountain View may hint at the software behind such things. The application describes a service that sets up Google as a third-party broker who receives the shopping cart info of customers placing orders via a device (including those of the mobile variety), allows them to select shipping and other options, and provides the total order cost. It then collects payment, coordinates shipment, and forwards order information to the seller to complete the transaction. So companies can have Google handle all their payment-taking needs in return for getting a sneak peek at what folks are buying — something that the WSJ’s sources say might be a component of the setup Google’s testing right now — as opposed to other third-party services, like Paypal, that only obtain and exchange payment info with merchants. Looks like Alma Whitten (Google’s Director of Privacy) has her work cut out assuaging the concerns such a system will inevitably create in an increasingly privacy-minded populace.

Sean Hollister contributed to this report.

BNET

Wall Street Journal, USPTO

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You know that Android 2.3.3 update that’s trickling out to Nexus S smartphones right now? Google’s decided to take this opportunity to push its data portability agenda with regards to Android. Simply put, the feature of the Facebook for Android app to provide the social network’s stored contact information to your Nexus S has been revoked from here on out, and as soon as you get the update all that contact information will disappear from your phone.

We’ve spent a while chatting with a Google rep, and they explained that the company is actually just reinstating the official rules — typically, apps have to use Android’s contacts API, but Facebook was granted an exception which allowed its contacts to remain in the cloud. In effect, what Google’s claims it’s doing here is the same thing that would happen if you uninstalled the app, or deleted your Facebook account — your contacts created and stored in the network would no longer be visible on your handset. In other words, Google’s attempting to push Facebook into making that data available to itself, which would be handy (think of the other apps that could use your Facebook data on the go) but potentially worrisome in terms of privacy as well. Either way, the argument is not likely to directly affect many individuals in the short term — Google tells us that Facebook’s sync privileges will only be revoked in the Nexus S (not the Nexus One) and other “lead devices” yet to come. Read the company’s full statement after the break, and decide for yourself if this is worth arguing about.

We believe it is very important that users are able to control their data. So in the over-the-air update for Nexus S, we have a small change to how Facebook contacts appear on the device. For Nexus S users who downloaded the Facebook app from Android Market, Facebook contacts will no longer appear to be integrated with the Android Contacts app. Since Facebook contacts cannot be exported from the device, the appearance of integration created a false sense of data portability. Facebook contact data will continue to appear within the Facebook app. Like all developers on Android, Facebook is free to use the Android contacts API to truly integrate contacts on the device, which would allow users to have more control over their data. We are removing the special-case handling of Facebook contacts on Nexus S and future lead devices. We continue to believe that reciprocity (the expectation that if information can be imported into a service it should be able to be exported) is an important step toward creating a world of true data liberation — and encourage other websites and app developers to allow users to export their contacts as well.

Mark Zuckerberg, the man who made it easier for everyone to get in touch with their inner voyeur, apparently has his own Facebook stalker to worry about.

The Facebook CEO recently obtained a restraining order against a 31-year-old man named Pradeep Manukonda, who, according to legal papers obtained by TMZ, has been trying to “follow, surveil and contact Mr. Zuckerberg using language threatening his personal safety.” Manukonda has reportedly been chasing Zuckerberg since January, in the hopes of getting some extra money for his family. He’s shown up at Facebook’s offices, and even appeared at Zuckerberg’s home, in Palo Alto. On January 28th, the man sent a hand-written letter (PDF) to the Facebook founder, along with some flowers.

Read the full story

Last month, Facebook temporarily suspended a controversial new feature that would have allowed third-party app developers to access sensitive user information, including home addresses and telephone numbers. At the time, the company said it would relaunch the service at a later date, but two U.S. congressmen think Facebook should tread carefully.

Yesterday, Representatives Edward Markey and Joe Barton sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, inquiring about the motivation behind launching the new feature, and asking what the social network would do to modify it. “Facebook needs to protect the personal information of its users to ensure that Facebook doesn’t become Phonebook,” reads a statement from Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat. “This is sensitive data and needs to be protected.”

Read the full story

Last year Google decided that it wasn’t going to let other services automatically export contact information from users’ email addresses, unless the service offered the same in return.

The change meant that users weren’t able to import their contacts into sites like Facebook, since it doesn’t allow export of contacts’ email addresses.

“We have decided to change our approach slightly to reflect the fact that users often aren’t aware that once they have imported their contacts into sites like Facebook they are effectively trapped,” a Google spokesperson had said then.

It seemed like Google got angry at the fact that you can find friends on Facebook using Gmail, but there is no way that you can find contacts on Gmail using information on Facebook.

This only highlights the increasing rivalry going on between Facebook and Google.

Previously, Facebook made deals with Hotmail and Yahoo to let them access its contact information. But since Google didn’t make a similar deal, Facebook has left Google out of it.

This was Google’s way of trying to pressure Facebook into making it share its contact info with it, because, the more data it has, the better Google search becomes.

Suppose that Facebook does let Google access its information, Google can then provide a more personalized search result for any query since it knows your preferences from your likes and pages you visited on Facebook. How did Facebook respond? They made a workaround, namely directing the users to the page where they can download their Gmail contacts manually and upload them to Facebook.

On this move, a Google spokesman commented

“We’re disappointed that Facebook didn’t invest their time in making it possible for their users to get their contacts out of Facebook. As passionate believers that people should be able to control the data they create, we will continue to allow our users to export their Google contacts.”

They did however, put up a “public service” message when Facebook redirected you to import Gmail contacts:

Read the full story

On Friday, Facebook quietly announced that app developers will now be able to access users’ home addresses and mobile numbers, in a move that has already raised concerns among privacy advocates and security experts alike.

Read the full story

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If you log in to Facebook today, the site will prompt you to review and update your existing privacy settings.

Basically you need to tell Facebook what parts of your profile should be visible to your friends, friends of friends, to search engines and to stalkers or people who aren’t connected with you yet.

How to Change Facebook Privacy Settings

The above video will give you a good idea about how you can customize your Facebook privacy settings. It’s easy.

Double Check your Facebook Privacy Settings
Now that you have updated your Facebook privacy settings, you should try looking at your own profile from the eyes of your friends, strangers and search engines to make sure that none of the information you want to keep private on Facebook is visible to other people.

Privacy Check A: For people outside your friend circle

A person may not be your friend but if he is logged into Facebook, he can possibly see some bits of your Facebook profile even though you not connected with each other.

Log into your Facebook account and follow this link to instantly know how your profile might look to other people on Facebook who are not your friends.

Privacy Check B: For search engines

The best way to find out how search engines will see your Facebook profile is through their cache. Go to google.com and copy-paste the full vanity URL of your Facebook profile into the Google search box.

Unless your account is very new*, your Facebook page will likely be the first result on Google for such a query (see example). Just open the “Cached” page and you’ll get a pretty good idea about how other people see through search engines.

[*] The cached information is only as new as the last visit of Googlebot. Therefore, if you have recently changed any privacy setting, rather than waiting for Google to index your public page, you can simply log out of Facebook and open the vanity URL directly in your browser to know what’s visible in search results.

Privacy Check C: For existing Facebook friends

Follow the same link but this time, type the name of any of your existing Facebook friends and you’ll instantly know how your profile appears to that particular person.

After you run your Facebook profile through these three simple checks, you can at least be sure that you aren’t accidentally exposing any private information on Facebook that you don’t want to.