Inside Google

Blog Post

Ohio AG backs antitrust suit against Google

Posted by John M. Simpson

In yet another indication of the seriousness of the mounting antitrust concerns about Goolge, the Ohio Attorney General, Richard A. Cordray, has weighed in on the side of myTriggers, an internet search firm suing Google for unfair anticompetitive practices

Blog Post

Gathering your WiFi data – Google’s business plan

Posted by Margot Williams

Government data protection authorities in Germany and the UK are questioning the collection of information on individual WiFI networks by Google’s Street View cars traversing their local streets.

Blog Post

Is history repeating itself with Google antitrust saga?

Posted by Glenn Simpson

Is this how it begins?
A handful of small companies crushed by a technology giant file David v. Goliath unfair competition lawsuits. A leading Silicon Valley antitrust expert lends his legal brains to the seemingly hopeless cause. Soon, a company that thinks it is all powerful and can do no wrong is forced to face up to the reality that it does not play well with others.

Blog Post

Cute Stuff on Small Screens for Big Bucks?

Posted by Margot Williams

Google just bought its first Israeli startup, LabPixies. The company was an early developer of widgets (web gadgets) like games (Flood-It), calendars and to-do lists for iGoogle personalized home pages.

Blog Post

GSA for GSA

Posted by Margot Williams

In a serendipitous synchronicity, the Google Search Appliance (GSA) has debuted as the new search engine on the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) web site.

Recently a box popped up on an obscure GSA web page titled “Transparency” which reveals that Google has taken over the search spot at the agency.

News Clipping

Jennifer Stoddart Blazes a Global Trail for Privacy Protection

By Jacquie McNish , THE GLOBE AND MAIL, (Toronto, Canada)

“She has taken the lead in sounding the privacy alarm,” said John Simpson, a consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica, Calif.

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Watchdog Calls for Google Break-Up; Urges DoJ to Investigate

By John Oates , THE REGISTER UK

Consumer Watchdog said it welcomed the ongoing investigation into Google Books by the DoJ, and the Federal Trade Commission’s probe into the AdMob buy, but said it was: “past time to act against Google’s monopolistic and pervasive power over the entire Internet”.

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Internet Consumer Watchdog Asks DOJ to Break Google into Smaller Companies

By Shane McGlaun , DAILYTECH.COM

One watchdog group called Consumer Watchdog has asked the DOJ this week to break Google into smaller companies to prevent a monopoly situation along the lines of Microsoft. John M. Simpson from Consumer Watchdog is the person who made the request to the DOJ and he argues that the DOJ’s actions against Google’s attempts at buying other advertising firms and scanning books isn’t enough to ensure the search giant doesn’t turn into a monopoly.

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Watchdog Calls for Federal Inquiry into Google

By Seth Weintraub , BRAINSTORM TECH BLOG - FORTUNE

Consumer Watchdog released its letter (PDF) to the Justice Department today at a news conference called “The Antitrust Case Against Google,” which was held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Other participants were Joseph Bial, special counsel at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, who represents myTriggers.com and TradeComet.com.; Simon Buckingham, a New York based Internet and mobile entrepreneur; and Gary Reback, an attorney with Carrell & Ferrell and a founder of the Open Book Alliance.

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Group Urges Google Breakup

By Wire Reports , THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Google’s treatment of rivals “warrants a full-blown investigation,” John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog said in Washington. Breaking up the company “should be on the table,” he said.

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Consumer Watchdog Asks DoJ to Break Up Google

By Emma Woollacott , TGDAILY.COM

An independent consumer group will today call on the Department of Justice to consider breaking Google up because of uncompetitive practices. Consumer Watchdog says the $23 billion corporation, which holds more than 70 percent of the search market, has a stranglehold on the market.

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Google Faces Antitrust Questions, More Privacy Concerns

By Lora Bentley , IT BUSINESS EDGE

Privacy advocates. The Federal Trade Commission. The Chinese government. They’ve all been on Google’s back recently. And it seems the company is now on Consumer Watchdog’s blacklist as well. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based consumer advocacy group is lobbying the U.S. Department of Justice to begin an antitrust investigation into the search giant. In fact, the argument has also been made that the company may need to be broken up.

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Google Spent $1.3 Million on Lobbying, What Are They Buying?

By Addy Dugdale , FAST COMPANY

Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, revealed today that Google upped its spending on Washington lobbyists by a mammoth 57% from the same period last year. Lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Senate Office of Public Affairs show that the firm handed over $1.3 million in the first quarter of 2010, compared with $880,000 in 2009.