I find the never ending stream of invitations from Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter annoying, but I usually blame the user. After all, the only way LinkedIn read your address book is because you entered your fucking gmail password into their website and said “go read my address book” (misleading UI notwithstanding). Google+ is a much more nefarious case. By forcibly combining social network, email, and contact list, Google has eliminated any possibility of privilege separation. I can hope Google doesn’t invite everyone I’ve ever emailed in the past into a circle, but I can’t technically enforce that.
Users have so far had a tough time fighting this bullshit, I think, because it’s hard to show damage. “Oh, you sent an invite to your ex boss the day after he fired you? Meh, you’ll live with the embarrassment.” Wait, you went to jail??? That’s some damage. I’d say this guy has a much better shot at restitution than the average user.
If Google+ actually did send an invite without him approving it, that would be pretty shitty. On the other hand, we only have his word that he didn’t send an invite, so he could be lying in order to get out of jail.
I think another interesting legal issue is what exactly constitutes “contacting someone” on the internet. Getting arrested for violating a restraining order because of a Google+ invite seems pretty silly, even if it was intentional. There is literally no content from the person in the invite, and it’s pretty easy to ignore. It’s not the same as sending someone an email or text.
Yes! Two thoughts.
I find the never ending stream of invitations from Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter annoying, but I usually blame the user. After all, the only way LinkedIn read your address book is because you entered your fucking gmail password into their website and said “go read my address book” (misleading UI notwithstanding). Google+ is a much more nefarious case. By forcibly combining social network, email, and contact list, Google has eliminated any possibility of privilege separation. I can hope Google doesn’t invite everyone I’ve ever emailed in the past into a circle, but I can’t technically enforce that.
Users have so far had a tough time fighting this bullshit, I think, because it’s hard to show damage. “Oh, you sent an invite to your ex boss the day after he fired you? Meh, you’ll live with the embarrassment.” Wait, you went to jail??? That’s some damage. I’d say this guy has a much better shot at restitution than the average user.
If Google+ actually did send an invite without him approving it, that would be pretty shitty. On the other hand, we only have his word that he didn’t send an invite, so he could be lying in order to get out of jail.
I think another interesting legal issue is what exactly constitutes “contacting someone” on the internet. Getting arrested for violating a restraining order because of a Google+ invite seems pretty silly, even if it was intentional. There is literally no content from the person in the invite, and it’s pretty easy to ignore. It’s not the same as sending someone an email or text.