Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Why Google dumped Reader revealed

Internet search giant Google could be shutting down its RSS app Google Reader in a bid to avoid problematic compliance issues related to privacy, it has been claimed.

The US-based tech giant said it is closing the news aggregator on July 1 because of declining usership.

But sources have claimed that Google is doing so to better orient itself so that it stops getting into trouble with repeated missteps around compliance issues, particularly privacy, AllThingsD reports.
That means every team needs to have people dedicated to dealing with these compliance and privacy issues, lawyers, policy experts, etc, the sources said.

Google didn't even have a product manager or full-time engineer responsible for Reader when it was killed, so the company didn't want to add in the additional infrastructure and staff, they added.

But at the same time, Google Reader was too deeply integrated into Google Apps to spin it off and sell it, like the company did last year with its SketchUp 3D modeling software.

The context for this concern about compliance is Google's repeated public failures on privacy due to lack of oversight and coordination, the report said.

It's pretty clear why Larry Page is trying to run a tighter ship, it added.

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