Inside Google

Blog Post

Join the “1 out of 15” opting out for privacy

Posted by Margot Williams

Last Tuesday in this space, I opted out of Google’s “interest-based advertising.” Later the same day, Google unveiled an opt-out tool for another personal information collection agent – Google Analytics.

Website owners can use Google Analytics to track visitors on their sites and Google collects the data from all the visits for its own use.

Blog Post

With $26.5 billion to invest, Google’s investment team sets up shop

Posted by Margot Williams

Google has opened its own trading desk to manage its $26.5 billion in cash and short-term investments, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.  Heading the team is company treasurer Brent Callinicos, who joined Google from Microsoft in 2007.  Under Callinicos, Google has built a “state of the art” cash management system, with technology that allows traders to [...]

News Clipping

Google Grabs Personal Info Off of Wi-Fi Networks

By Michael Liedtke , ASSOCIATED PRESS

Consumer Watchdog, a group that has become one of Google’s most outspoken critics, renewed its call for a regulatory crackdown Friday. “Once again, Google has demonstrated a lack of concern for privacy,” said Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson. “Its computer engineers run amok, push the envelope and gather whatever data they can until their fingers are caught in the cookie jar.”

Blog Post

Google’s America: White and Male

Posted by Margot Williams

Google’s Economic Impact 2009 report (see Consumer Watchdog’s statement) released online and at a series of press events around the country on Tuesday, shows an off-key bias about our nation’s citizens.

News Clipping

Congressional Panel Seeks WiFi Data Answers From Google

By Scott Morrison , THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (DOW JONES NEWSWIRES)

Meanwhile, consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog on Wednesday urged state attorneys general to investigate whether the company broke wiretap, privacy and unfair business practices laws. The group also called on state authorities to demand that Google preserve all documents relating to its data-collection activities because they could be evidence in criminal or civil cases.

Press Release

Consumer Watchdog Urges State Attorneys General To Probe Google’s WiSpy Snooping

CONTACT: John M. Simpson (310) 392-0522, ext 317; or cell; (310) 292-1902

Consumer Watchdog today called on the state attorneys general to investigate Google’s WiSpy snooping in their respective states to determine what state laws were broken.

News Clipping

Google Worth $1 Billion to Pa. Commerce

By Kim Leonard , PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE REVIEW

The report drew mixed reactions yesterday. The nonprofit Consumer Watchdog organization dismissed it as hype based on “cooked accounting” that counts benefits, but doesn’t consider the impact on some content providers and competitors who suffer from Google’s “monopolistic control of search.”

News Clipping

Google Raises Its Game In Washington

By Ariana Eunjung Cha Cecilia Kang , THE WASHINGTON POST

John Simpson, a researcher for the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog who was the first to raise questions about McLaughlin’s appointment to the White House, said Google’s bumbling intellectual persona in Washington is just an act.

News Clipping

Google Touts Economic Impact of $645M for Utah — Internet Giant Brushes Aside Critic of Its Motives

By John Keahey , THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

The announcement drew an immediate response from a nonprofit consumer-advocacy organization, Consumer Watchdog. The group said Google’s motives in releasing the report were driven by “its attempts to quell worldwide outrage over the WiSpy scandal” and that this is “classic corporate PR spin to divert justified criticism.”

News Clipping

Google Events Offer a Defense to Criticism

By James Temple , THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

At least one vocal critic of the company said the report overstates Google’s contributions. The company didn’t generate this economic activity so much as facilitate it, said John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog. There were other businesses that connected companies with customers before Google was founded 12 years ago, and the report failed to take into account lost revenue and jobs within those industries, notably media and advertising, he said.

News Clipping

Google: $14.1B Generated in California, $54B in Nation in 2009; Consumer Group Scoffs

By Staff Writers , SILICON VALLEY/SAN JOSE BUSINESS JOURNAL

Consumer Watchdog said Google’s economic report relies on cooked accounting that only counts benefits while factoring in none of the costs Google places on society.

Blog Post

Protect your privacy on Google: Tips from Computerworld

Posted by Margot Williams

A great “smart paranoid’s guide to using Google” at Computerworld today takes you step by step through “down-and-dirty details on how to maintain your privacy while using Google’s myriad services.” It’s chock full of precautions, security tips and instructions on how to disengage from Google collections of  information about you. The guide takes you from [...]

Press Release

Google’s Economic Report Is Self-Serving Hype, Consumer Watchdog Says

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-0522, x317; or cell: 310-292-1902

“This is what every big corporation does when they are under fire,” said John M. Simpson, consumer advocate with the nonpartisan, nonprofit group. “They divert attention from their wrongdoing and spin a story about their contributions.”