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Google accelerates Plus closure after another privacy lapse

By Associated Press

Google is still having trouble protecting the personal information on its Plus service, prodding the company to accelerate its plans to shut down a little-used social network created to compete against Facebook. | AP file photo

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google is still having trouble protecting the personal information on its Plus service, prodding the company to accelerate its plans to shut down a little-used social network created to compete against Facebook.

A privacy flaw that inadvertently exposed the names, email addresses, ages and other personal information of 52.5 million Google Plus users last month convinced Google to close the service in April instead of August, as previously announced. Google revealed the new closure date and its latest privacy lapse in a Monday blog post .

It’s the second time in two months that Google has disclosed the existence of a problem that enabled unauthorized access to Plus profiles. In October, the company acknowledged finding a privacy flaw affecting 500,000 Plus users that it waited more than six months to disclose.

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The Latest

Jim Gwinn, who has worked at Conn-Selmer for 11 years, works on a trombone at the factory in Elkhart, Indiana Wednesday, March 27, 2024. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Photography

Picture Chicago: 18 must-see Sun-Times photos from this week in news

Hundreds gathered for a memorial service for Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough, a mysterious QR code mural enticed Taylor Swift fans on the Near North Side, and a weekend mass shooting in Back of the Yards left 9-year-old Ariana Molina dead and 10 other people wounded, including her mother and other children.

By Sun-Times staff

Artist Jason Messinger stands with the murals he created hanging in the Ogden stationhouse at the Illinois Medical District stop on the Forest Park branch of the CTA Blue Line.

Murals and Mosaics

For Illinois Medical District CTA station, muralist wanted to relax patients arriving on the L

Chicago artist Jason Messinger created the murals in 2018 during a Blue Line station renovation and says his aim was for “people to look at this for 30 seconds and transport them on a mini-vacation of the mind. Each mural is an abstract idea of a vacation destination.”

By Genevieve Bookwalter

Untitled design (25).png

Inking Well

Chicago tattoo artist Allie Marie gives pets a permanent spot on their owners' bodies

The artist at Goodkind Tattoo in Lake View incorporates hidden messages and inside jokes to help memorialize people’s furry friends.

By Katie Anthony

The Watchdogs

'Deceptive' real estate firm tied to Loop's Monroe Capital sued by Kwame Raoul

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By Stephanie Zimmermann

Police crime scene tape.

Suburban Chicago

Two dead after apparent murder-suicide in Lemont motel

The bodies of Richard Crane, 62, and an unidentified woman were found shot at the D-Lux Budget Inn in southwest suburban Lemont.

By Sun-Times Wire