Google Buzz Privacy Class Action Settlement Costs Mountain View $8.5 Million [Google Settles Google Buzz Privacy-related Suit for $8.5 Million]

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Just a little earlier today I was making a comparison between Ping and Facebook when it comes to social networks and I have also included Google’s Buzz service in said comparison in order to remind you how not to start off a social networking project.

As you all remember, Google has been plagued with various privacy issues when Google Buzz was launched, and although it tried to quickly fix it and minimized the effects of the initial privacy hole, Google wasn’t capable of avoiding getting sued for these issues.

One particular class action suit is arguing that the original Google Buzz service violated users privacy and Google is more than ready to settle the trial for $8.5 million. Does that sound like the actions of a guilty party here? It certainly does to me, and considering the number of affected Google accounts out there; I’d say that Google is really the winner here.

But Google will not get off the hook that easily. The company will have to improve its Buzz privacy settings in the future and educate Buzz users on how Buzz works and how Google is protecting their own privacy. The settling cash will go to various organizations that work on Internet privacy policy and/or education, and hopefully that money will be wisely spent to avoid such problems in the near future.

Google is not giving up on Buzz like it dumped Wave a short while ago, and considering that a rumored Music service is supposed to come to Google customers by the end of the year, Buzz might just be reinvented in a Ping kind of way.

But will Buzz be able to amass the same success Ping seems to have? Apple’s newly launched social network based on one of the most important products Apple has ever created, iTunes, has become a hit overnight and, in due time, it might become a real Facebook contender. Can Google create some buzz around its Buzz to make it grow as fast as Ping is apparently growing?