Google's Got Problems

[wasbit]

Google+ shutting down after users’ data is exposed

Google is shutting down much of its social network, Google+, after user data was left exposed.

It said a bug in its software meant information that people believed was private had been accessible by third parties.

Google said up to 500,000 users had been affected.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the company knew about the issue in March but did not disclose it.

– https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45792349

—————-

Google has abandoned efforts to win a $10bn (£7.7bn) Pentagon cloud computing contract.

The firm said the work might have transgressed principles it published in June limiting its artificial-intelligence-related activities.

Thousands of its staff had previously protested against its involvement in a separate Department of Defense project.

– https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45798153

 

--
Regards
wasbit

Rig 1: Optiplex 3050 SFF
Rig 2: Asus ROG G20CB (rebuilt wreck)
Rig 3: HP Elitebook 8440P

Dear Starfleet, hate you, hate the Federation, taking Voyager. - Janeway

[Richard]

The Google+ shuttering was probably over due as it never really caught on, so the exposure of the user, (was there more than one anyway?) was limited I was a little confused as to how long the risk existed, there was a suggestion that it had been mitigated when found with no evidence of tampering but it is all a bit messy.

As for the other one, I am not sure whether to rejoice, weep, or ignore the issue. I have heard some of the shouting, but frankly the details of what was really involved for good or ill has not crossed my radar. My worry is that the present febrile atmosphere allows a storm to be whipped up in the absence of real examination of the real threats, risks or benefits.

[The Duke]

This is a real shame. I use g plus almost everyday. Always preferred it to fb. Nice communities.

About the only good news is g plus doesn’t handle any financial data. Just your profile data that you set to not be public was affected by some dev api. Ie it ignored the not pudlic flag and supplied it to the dev. Cheers Google. But why you’d have a real Dob or input your house and phone number is beyond me. Especially if your then gonna set it to be private. Seems stupid on all levels. The user and Google.

Google messed up big time with g+ out the gate. It should of been  and was touted to be, the back bone for android. Oh well.

[Author]

Posts