In October of last year, when Google+ was still only a few months old, a member of the nascent social network posted a long rant that received lots of media attention. He meant to share his post only with coworkers, but it went public instead – causing more than a little embarrassment for his company. Who was this person? A Google engineer, of all people.

Beyond the post’s content, the incident was curious in a broader way. It highlighted how contextual ambiguity can introduce risk into the everyday …
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