Government officials from 10 countries sent Google an open letter (PDF) this week asking the company to adhere to a list of privacy principles in the wake of the company's botched Buzz launch. The leaders, which include officials from Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and the UK, make it clear that they understand Google swiftly responded to user complaints immediately after Buzz was opened to the public. Still, they're unsatisfied with Google's "launch now, fix later" philosophy and want to ensure the company takes privacy into serious consideration before launching future products.

In the letter sent directly to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the officials opened with criticism of how Google handled its Buzz launch in February of this year. The privacy problems "were serious and ought to have been readily apparent to you," reads the letter, and users were able to recognize the privacy implications immediately. Indeed, users were put off by the fact that Google automatically associated their previously private Gmail contacts as friends, automatically sharing Google Reader items, and automatically sharing photos uploaded to users' public Picasa Web Albums.

Google responded days later by changing Buzz's default settings to appease the masses, but the damage was already done and many were baffled as to how Google could not have envisioned these complaints ahead of time. The letter points this out: "While your company addressed the most privacy-intrusive aspects of Google Buzz in the wake of this public protest [...] we remain extremely concerned about how a product with such significant privacy issues was launched in the first place. We would have expected a company of your stature to set a better example."

In addition to Google Buzz, the officials also hammered on Google Street View—a source of continued complaints (particularly in the EU). Google decided to start blurring the faces of people caught on the street after the fact and users continue to raise concerns over the hurdles required to have things blurred or images removed altogether.

The group asks Google to adhere to "fundamental privacy principles" when designing new services. These principles include collecting the minimum amount of personal information necessary, providing clear information to users about how it will be used, creating privacy-protective default settings, and ensuring that the settings are prominent and easy to understand.

The timing of the 10 governments is uncanny, as Google recently published its own letter to the Federal Trade Commission on privacy. Google says it supports transparency and user control when it comes to Internet services, as well as "comprehensive privacy standards" and data portability. In a meeting with Ars in February, Google reps insisted that it launched Buzz in a way that it thought users would enjoy, and that the company thought the existing privacy controls were enough. The automatic connections were meant to help users get started with Buzz—"people are more likely to use something if they see their friends on it," one representative told us—but the company learned its lesson after the fact.

Google may not have launched Buzz with any malice, but it's that level of ignorance that disturbs us (and clearly the leaders of these 10 countries). Google is certainly not the only company that has been in the spotlight lately for privacy gaffes, but it has now become the official poster child when it comes to respecting the personal information of its users. Google needs to step it up with its product launches by making the settings for new services as closed as possible by default and easy to tweak, even if that might stifle initial adoption. If that happens, users will undoubtedly appreciate the extra attention paid to their privacy and Google might have a chance at turning its image around from a company that repeatedly makes stupid privacy mistakes to one that is conscious of how Internet users want to relate to one another (hint: it's on their own terms).