The outrage over the new Google reader sharing feature is as predictable as it is stupid - Scoble rounds it up fairly well, ultimately concluding that Google should have known that people would complain. However, I agree with this statement:

But, to the users you still are idiots for not understanding that when Google says “public” Google MEANS public. I’m not sure how much clearer Google could have made it, other than to maybe put a disclaimer that says something like “this feed might look sorta private right now, but we reserve the right to put this feed into public view at anytime for any reason. If you don’t want your shared items to be seen by everyone, please don’t share them.

Seriously - should Google have included a link to the meaning of "public"?

Update: Mathew Ingram agrees.

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