Inside Google

SANTA MONICA, CA — Consumer Watchdog today praised a coalition of state attorneys general led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal for continuing an investigation into Google’s Wi-Spying scandal in the wake of the Federal Trade Commission halting its probe earlier this week.

In announcing the state plans Blumenthal said:

“Google’s story has changed during the course of our multi-state investigation — demonstrating the need for sustained scrutiny. Rather than rely on Google’s explanations and assurances, our multi-state coalition, led by Connecticut, will work to confirm the facts about how this happened and how consumers will be protected going forward.”

Consumer Watchdog had called on the FTC in May to investigate Google’s Wi-Spying in which the Internet giant’s Street View cars gathered private communications from home Wi-Fi networks in 33 countries.  The nonprofit, nonpartisan group then asked the attorneys general to investigate as well.

“The FTC’s decision to end its investigation based on assurances from Google and no independent verification of the facts was at best premature — at worst a whitewash, ” said John M. Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Inside Google project. “ ‘We’re sorry and we won’t do it again,’ simply doesn’t cut it. Google must be held accountable. I’m glad the attorneys general understand their responsibility to consumers and will get to the bottom of what was the biggest privacy breach in the Internet era.”

Consumer Watchdog has been working to protect consumers’ online privacy rights and educate them about the issues through its Inside Google Project. The goal has been to convince Google of the social and economic importance of giving consumers control over their online lives. By persuading Google, the Internet’s leading company, to adopt adequate guarantees, its policies could become the gold standard for privacy for the industry, potentially improving the performance of the entire online sector.

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Consumer Watchdog, formerly the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is a nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer advocacy organization with offices in Washington, DC and Santa Monica, Ca.  Consumer Watchdog’s website is www.consumerwatchdog.org. Visit our new Google Privacy and Accountability Project website: http://insidegoogle.com