Google finally zapped a scary and disconcerting glitch that caused its IM apps to route messages to the incorrect recipients.
Although Google said it repaired the delivery malfunction early
Thursday morning, the company didn’t declare the problem fully solved
until Friday at 2 p.m. EDT, more than 36 hours after the bug struck
users of Talk, Chat, and Hangouts.
It’s not clear how many people were affected, but the bug is chilling
because of its potential for personal and professional embarrassment
and harm to people’s privacy.
In its latest update posted
to the Apps Status site, Google stated simply: “The problem with Google
Talk should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank
you for your patience and continued support.”
The update that preceded that one had been posted about 24 hours
earlier, at 2:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, and it contained vague and
seemingly contradictory information.
For example, it didn’t even provide a basic description of the
problem, whose nature became known only through complaints posted on discussion forums and social media outlets by frantic and horrified users.
Moreover, Thursday’s post stated that Google Talk had “already been
restored for some users” although a previous status update had indicated
the routing problem had been solved and that Talk and the other IM
services could be used without fear of running into the glitch again.
In addition, the use of the verb “restored” seemed to imply that the
IM services either went offline or were taken offline by Google,
although it’s not clear that this happened.
The post also mentioned that Google was “currently applying a fix”
and would announce when “full service is restored.” Adding to the
confusion, the post referred only to Talk and not to the other Google IM
services, so it’s not clear whether only Talk was getting fixed but not
the others.
A Google spokeswoman said via email on Thursday that those affected
were “some people using Google’s instant messaging services.” On Friday,
she confirmed the issue had been fully resolved, but declined to
clarify or comment further, saying the company is “still gathering
information.”
According to Google, the IM apps malfunctioned between 1 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday.
The company hasn’t given an estimate of how many messages were delivered incorrectly and how many users were affected.
Users affected
Google’s IM services are used by individuals for personal
communications and by businesses, schools, and government agencies as
part of the company’s Google Apps communication and collaboration suite.
Several Google Apps administrators chimed in about the problem
online, including one who called the incident “a really big deal” in a message posted on the official Google Chat discussion forum.
“Certainly, it shakes peoples’ confidence. Moreover, the fact that
the [Apps Status] dashboard provides conflicting information really
makes it feel like amateur hour at the Googleplex,” this person wrote on
Thursday.
“Did they really find the problem and resolve it?” the admin added.
“Google needs to provide some detailed information and over communicate
on this to gain some trust/confidence that the issue is solved. My next
step, I suppose, is to shut down chat altogether to avoid any further
possibility of a breach of confidentiality.”
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