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FTC Preparing to Fine Google Millions for Safari Privacy Breach
By David Angott , SEARCH ENGINE JOURNAL
John M. Simpson, the director at the Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project, expressed support for the FTC taking strong action against Google.
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Google Wi-Spy Scandal Heats Up
By James R. Hood , THE FULTON SUN
2. May 2012
Now Consumer Watchdog, a non-profit advocacy group in California, has filed a Freedom of Information Act Request with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking all documents related to the Commission’s investigation of the Google “Wi-Spy” scandal. The FCC recently fined Google $25,000 for willfully obstructing the FCC’s investigation into how Google’s Street View cars gathered “payload data” from private Wi-Fi networks.
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Google Street View Controversy Continues to Roil
By Jeffrey Burt , eWEEK.COM
2. May 2012
A consumer advocacy group wants all the documents connected with the FCC’s investigation, while some European regulators may give the Google program a new look.
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Feds Wondered Who Funded Push To Probe Google
By Jim McElhatton , THE WASHINGTON TIMES
2. May 2012
An official with Consumer Watchdog, which has been a frequent and sharp critic of Google, said despite the speculation, the organization does not receive funding from the search engine’s competitors — Microsoft, Yahoo or Facebook. “I don’t know why they would have speculated about that,” said John M. Simpson, privacy director for Consumer Watchdog. “They could have just called and asked.”
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FCC Reveals New Twist In Google ‘Street View’ Case
By Alexei Alexis , BLOOMBERG BNA
1. May 2012
The new revelations have prompted Consumer Watchdog, a Washington-based advocacy group, to call for a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, which is chaired by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.).
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Street View Engineer Warned Google in 2007
By Chris Burns , SLASHGEAR.COM
1. May 2012
A letter written by John Simpson, privacy project director for the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog on the 30th of April spoke on this subject. It was addressed to Senator Al Franken, a proponent of getting Google to reveal what they’d actually collected here before, saying that wished Franken to grant Engineer Doe immunity from prosecution. If indeed the engineer at hand were granted immunity, he would be much more likely to testify in the case which was, as Simpson claims, “the largest wiretapping effort in history.” Simpson wanted Franken and the rest of the world to know the dangers in this situation.
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Google’s Street View ‘Engineer Doe’ Identified
By Jeffrey Burt , eWEEK.COM
1. May 2012
In a letter April 30, John Simpson, privacy project director for the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, urged Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, to conduct hearings into “the Google Wi-Spy incident that will finally get to the bottom of what was the largest wiretapping effort in history.” Simpson urged Franken to grant Engineer Doe immunity from prosecution so that he can testify and to call Google CEO Larry Page to testify.
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AT&T, Google Among Top Lobbying Spenders in First Quarter
By Grant Gross , PCWORLD.COM
30. April 2012
Google critic Consumer Watchdog said the company’s increased lobbying expenses show it has bought into the “corrupt Washington power game. “Google claims its motto is, ‘don’t be evil,’ but the amount of cash they are throwing around demonstrates an astounding cynicism,” John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director, said in an email.
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Google Spends More On One Day of Lunch Than It Will On FCC Fine
By Sarah Kessler , MASHABLE.COM
17. April 2012
According to a report by ProPublica, the FCC legally could have fined Google up to $337,500. Mashable has contacted the FCC for comment on how the fees were calculated and will update this article with any response.
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Consumer Groups Slate Google’s Tiny Wi-Spy Fine
By Jeffrey Burt , eWEEK.COM
17. April 2012
John Simpson, director of the Privacy Project at the Consumer Watchdog group, said he was pleased the FCC derided Google “for its blatantly obstructionist violations, but $25,000 is chump change to an Internet giant like Google. By willfully violating the Commission’s orders, Google has managed to continue to hide the truth about Wi-Spy. Google wants everyone else’s information to be accessible, but in a demonstration of remarkable hypocrisy, stonewalls and keeps everything about itself secret.”
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Sergey Brin Pounds Fists Against Walled Gardens
By Richard Adhikari , TECHNEWSWORLD.COM
16. April 2012
“Whenever Google raises the cry of defending Internet freedom, it’s always really about what’s best for Google’s business model,” John Simpson, consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog, told TechNewsWorld.
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Industry, Privacy Advocates Offer Competing Views of ‘Do-Not-Track’
By Juliana Gruenwald , NATIONAL JOURNAL
10. April 2012
John Simpson with Consumer Watchdog, which along with Chester’s group and other privacy advocates is backing the EFF/Mozilla proposal, argues that the industry’s proposal “has so many loopholes it’s meaningless.”
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Franken, Consumer Groups Urge Obama to Push for New Online Privacy Rules
By Brendan Sasso , HILLICON VALLEY BLOG - THEHILL.COM
3. April 2012
Consumer Watchdog urged the Commerce Department to propose its own privacy legislation and push Congress to pass it. “Calls for action in policy papers are easy. The test of commitment is to translate high-minded principles like the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights into real legislative language,” the group wrote. It urged the Commerce Department to propose the legislation before moving forward with negotiations with Web companies.
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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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7. May 2012