Social Media Behaving Badly

It's one thing when companies spill your data by accident. But what about when they do it on purpose? Google's latest foray into social networking, Buzz, met with immediate criticism when it became clear that the service made public a user's most frequent email contacts. Not cool. Google quickly announced changes to the service, but the fact remains: companies that control user data have huge power, and are prone to misusing that power. Business users should be aware of the risks associated with these services.