Hide Gmail Contacts in Google Buzz – Avoid Privacy Issues

Google Buzz which was launched a few days back is now claimed to be having a big privacy flaw, which means that anyone can see all your contact lists and this is because Google Buzz automatically makes you follow and have a decent number of followers to your Buzz profile based on your regular interaction with your gmail contacts. Once you visit any Buzz Profile Page like this, you will find a small amount of information as shown below.

Google Buzz Profile

If you click on the links of Followers or Following link, you will get the following window with the information as shown below.

Amit Bhawani Followers

Now everyone is suggesting to disable or turnoff these options, so that others cannot know your private contacts and misuse them. First of all you need to edit your Google Profile option at http://google.com/profiles/me , which will redirect to your public profile page, and on the top right you will find a option of ‘Edit Profile’. Under this option, you will get 3 different options near the ‘Change Photo’ section, Here you need to Uncheck the option which says ‘Display the list of people I’m following and people following me’.

Edit Google Profile

Once this option is selected, other Buzz users cannot find the total number of people you are following, nor the total number of people who are following you and the contact names etc.