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Prosecutor says Larry Page knew Google was breaking the law
Posted by John M. Simpson
It became clear over the weekend why Google agreed to a whopping $500 million settlement with the Justice Department to end criminal charges that it aided in the sale of illegal drugs from Canada. Co-founder and CEO Larry Page knew that the Internet giant was breaking the law.
Blog Post
FTC ‘carefully monitoring’ online tracking
Posted by John M. Simpson
19. August 2011
I just received an encouraging letter from the Federal Trade Commission assuring me that its Division of Privacy and Identity Protection is “carefully monitoring the privacy issues associated with online tracking.” The letter, from Maneesha Mithal, the division’s Associate Director, was in response to our recent complaint about companies who said they would not track [...]
Blog Post
Does Google-Motorola Pose Anti-Competitive Danger?
Posted by Jamie Court
15. August 2011
What if Google, the master of the cloud computing universe and the Internet’s information monopolist, were to buy Intel, Apple, or IBM? Would we want the company that controls information outside of our computers all along the Internet to also have control over a principal computer hardware maker and its patents?
Blog Post
We need a right to be forgotten
Posted by John M. Simpson
12. August 2011
I remember as a young newspaper reporter going to different jurisdictions where public records were kept and putting together background information on an individual. I had to have a compelling reason to do it, because although the records were public, it took considerable effort to gather the information. With the Internet and the advent of [...]
Blog Post
Is Google adding a default security setting?
Posted by John M. Simpson
9. August 2011
One of the dangers of using public Wi-Fi networks at coffee shops and the like is that anybody else on the network can read your email, Facebook postings, search requests and easily hack into your account unless the data is encrypted. The most common is SSL encryption using the HTTPS protocol. If you use it, [...]
Blog Post
Should you believe what Eric Schmidt says or what Google does?
Posted by John M. Simpson
25. July 2011
Actions speak louder than words. That’s why I’m not putting much stock in what Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt says anymore.
Blog Post
Google: Just another corporation …
Posted by John M. Simpson
22. July 2011
Part of Google’s appeal has been the way its executives have been able to portray the Internet giant as not a typical corporateering behemoth simply focused on fattening the bottom line. I’ve argued that despite the self-serving attempt to portray their company as something different, Google is in fact like the rest. Google executives’ acts and words this week show I’m right.
Blog Post
Google and Facebook lobby expense reports likely to set new records Wednesday
Posted by John M. Simpson
18. July 2011
Lobbying expenditure reports are due to be filed with the the Senate Office of Public Records Wednesday and you can expect record expenditures from both Facebook and Google.
Blog Post
FTC targets Google for antitrust probe
Posted by John M. Simpson
23. June 2011
Since April when Bloomberg News reported that the Federal Trade Commission was contemplating a full-blown antitrust investigation of Google, people who follow the Internet giant have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. It did on Thursday with the report in the Wall Street Journal that the five-member Commission is about to serve Google with civil subpoenas — known as Civil Investigative Demands — about its business practices.
Blog Post
Google’s Do Not Track answer doesn’t track
Posted by John M. Simpson
3. June 2011
If you follow a company closely, like I follow Google, there is no better place to remind its executives of your continued interest than the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting. It keeps them on their toes. I own a couple of shares of Google stock, so I headed up to Mountain View Thursday to attend the [...]
Blog Post
Google claims it doesn’t understand what Do Not Track means
Posted by John M. Simpson
23. May 2011
I’ve just seen what has to be the lamest excuse ever to come out of the Googleplex. Apparently Google hasn’t implemented a Do Not Track mechanism on its Chrome browser, because, according to one of the Internet Giant’s top privacy lawyers, Keith Enright, the geeks in Mountain View “need more granularity and a more reasonable [...]
Blog Post
Senate “tussle” is good for privacy
Posted by John M. Simpson
19. May 2011
There can’t be anything better than having legislators compete to answer popular demand for better privacy protection. Hauling tech executives in and asking them to explain themselves never hurts. Twice in two weeks is even better.
Blog Post
Sen. Blumenthal demands answers on Wi-Fi privacy
Posted by John M. Simpson
18. May 2011
The forty-state probe by attorneys general slowed after then Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was elected to the U.S. Senate, but he clearly hasn’t dropped his concerns. In a letter this week to the chief executives of Microsoft, Google, Apple, Research in Motion, Skyhook Wireless and Nokia, Blumenthal writes that widespread use of smartphones “raises [...]
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Consumer Watchdog’s Carmen Balber discusses Internet privacy and the need for an online “Do Not Track Me” list.
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29. August 2011
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