News Clipping
Saying they are satisfied with privacy reforms Google announced last week, U.S. regulators have closed their inquiry into Google’s collection of data from unsecured private Wi-Fi networks through its Street View cars, a decision that was blasted Wednesday by online privacy advocates.
News Clipping
NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission is scolding Google Inc. without punishing the Internet search leader for collecting e-mails, passwords and other personal information transmitted over unsecured wireless networks. Consumer Watchdog, a group that has been among the most strident critics of Google’s so-called “Wi-Spy” incident, called FTC’s resolution “premature and wrong.” It also suggested that Google’s lobbyists may have swayed the outcome of the inquiry. The company has spent $3.9 million on lobbying activities so far this year and has met with the FTC on variety of topics, according to company disclosures.
Blog Post
Google’s efforts to expand its search advertising business into the online travel sector now faces the combined opposition of its competitors. The campaign against Google is another reminder that policy decisions in Washington are crucial to the company’s efforts to expand beyond its search advertising business which still provides 97 percent of its revenue.
Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA — The Federal Trade Commission’s two-page letter ending its probe of the Google Wi-Spy scandal is premature and wrong, Consumer Watchdog said today, and leaves the American public with no official full account of the Internet giant’s repeated invasions of consumer privacy.
News Clipping
Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group, called the F.T.C.’s decision “premature and wrong. Once again, Google, with its myriad of government connections, gets a free pass,” John M. Simpson, director of the group’s Inside Google Project, said in a statement.
