Google faces class action suit over Buzz privacy

Google Buzz is under attack from all sides

Lawyers acting for a 24 year-old Harvard Law School student have filed a class action suit against Google alleging invasion of privacy after the launch of Buzz last week.

Eva Hibnick took the step after finding herself automatically opted in to the Buzz social networking service. She consulted one of her professors who put her in contact with a legal team.

"I feel really deeply about this issue and that's why I decided to step forward," Hibnick told ABC News.

The class action suit claims to represent all 31 million Gmail users, and is demanding that Google stop such practices. The action also claims financial damages.

"It is not so much that we are expecting to get millions of people hundreds of dollars," said one of Hibnick's attorneys, Gary Mason of Mason Law Firm LLP.

"What we would like to see is a commitment from Google that it is not going to do this again the next time it launches a product."

A Google spokesperson said in a statement: "We have not yet been served, so we cannot comment on the suit until we have had a chance to review it."

The launch of Buzz has been a PR disaster for Google. The service generated a huge number of complaints from users and privacy advocates and, although Google has made a number of changes, it is clear many users are still not satisfied.