Inside Google

Press Release

U.S. Appeals Court Rules Google Not Exempt From Wiretap Law In Wi-Spy Suit

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041

Billions of Dollars At Stake For Google’s Collection Of Data With Street View Cars

SANTA MONICA, CA – A federal appeals court ruled today that Google’s interception of messages from private Wi-Fi networks is not exempt from federal wiretap laws, opening the way for a class action suit in the Wi-Spy case to move forward with possible damages amounting to billions of dollars.

Press Release

Consumer Watchdog Urges European Commission To Charge Google In Antitrust Probe

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041

Latest Settlement Proposal from Internet Giant Is “An Attempt To Obfuscate And Delay”

SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today called on the European Commission to file a formal Statement of Objections against Google in the nearly three-year-old antitrust investigation of the Internet giant and said Google’s latest settlement offer was an attempt to stall the investigation.

Press Release

Privacy Groups Urge FTC To Block Pending Facebook Privacy Changes

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041

WASHINGTON, DC – A coalition of six consumer privacy groups is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to enforce an earlier consent order with Facebook and block proposed changes in the social network’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and its Data Use Policy because the proposed changes violate the 2011 settlement with the Commission.

Press Release

Consumer Watchdog Calls On Gov. Brown To Sign ‘Do Not Track’ Legislation, But Cautions Law Is Only A Step Towards Knowledge, Not Full Consumer Power

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041

SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today urged Gov. Jerry Brown to sign a Do Not Track bill just passed by the State Legislature because it is a step towards consumer knowledge, but the public interest group added that ultimately consumers must have the right to simply say “no” to online tracking.

Press Release

Consumer Watchdog Joins EPIC In Opposing $8.5 Million Settlement In Google Suit

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041

SANTA MONICA, CA. – Consumer Watchdog joined the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and three other public interest groups today in opposing a proposed $8.5 million settlement in a class action suit against Google for privacy violations in the way it handled users’ search data because of at least “three obvious deficiencies” in the proposal.

Press Release

Google Is Either Lying To The Court Or To The Public, Consumer Watchdog Says

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041

SANTA MONICA, CA – Google is either lying to the court or lying to the public, Consumer Watchdog said today, after the Internet giant made new public claims asserting it respects users’ privacy that contradicted an earlier court filing it made. Google said in a court filing that there was no legitimate expectation of privacy when emails were sent to its system.

Press Release

Google Tells Court You Cannot Expect Privacy When Sending Messages to Gmail — People Who Care About Privacy Should Not Use Service, Consumer Watchdog Says

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041

SANTA MONICA, CA — In a stunning admission contained in a brief filed recently in federal court, lawyers for Google said people should not expect privacy when they send messages to a Gmail account. Consumer Watchdog said today that people who care about their email correspondents’ privacy should not use the Internet giant’s service.

Press Release

Effort To Craft Apps “Transparency Code” Shows Futility of Multi-Stakeholder Process

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041; or cell: 310-292-1902

Obama Must Propose Legislation If He Cares About Privacy, Consumer Watchdog Says

WASHINGTON, DC – A yearlong effort convened by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) demonstrates the futility of crafting codes of conduct through a voluntary multi-stakeholder process and the way participants were asked their opinion of the proposed code makes a mockery of the effort, Consumer Watchdog said today.

Press Release

Tech Companies Continue Pumping Millions Into Lobbying As Google Tops $3 Million, Facebook Spending Rises 10 Percent, Microsoft Posts Record $2.96 Million For Quarter

CONTACT: John M. Simpson 310-392-7041

WASHINGTON, DC – Technology companies continued to pump money into their lobbying efforts during the second quarter, with Google leading the pack spending $3.36 million on its effort to buy influence with federal legislators and policymakers, according to disclosure forms filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Press Release

Google, Facebook Continue Pumping Money Into Lobbying Efforts Setting New Records

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041

SANTA MONICA, CA — Google and Facebook continued to pump money into their Washington lobbying efforts in the third quarter with the Internet giant spending its second most amount in one quarter while the social networking company spent its most ever for one quarter.
“Google and Facebook would have you believe that they are different from other corporations,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director. “They are not. They are following the corrupt corporate tradition in Washington: buying what you want.”

Press Release

Google, Oracle Of Transparency, Gets Caught By Transparency; Consumer Watchdog Says Earnings Report Glitch Should Be Wake Up Call For Online Privacy

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041

SANTA MONICA, CA — Consumer Watchdog urged the founders of Google to take today’s early leak of financial information — which caused Google to ask to suspend trading in its stock — as a wake up call for the billionaire executives and prompt them to support giving Google users the right to suspend trading in their own private information.

Press Release

Consumer Watchdog Praises EU Data Commissioners For Rebuking Google For Merged Privacy Policy

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041; or cell: 310-292-1902

Calls on Federal Trade Commission To Protect U.S. Consumers

SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today praised the European data commissioners for rebuking Google’s unilateral merging of privacy policies and data across its various product lines and called on the Federal Trade Commission to act to protect U.S. consumers.

Press Release

Consumer Watchdog Urges ICANN To Reject Google, Amazon Applications To Buy Generic Internet Domains

CONTACT: John M. Simpson , 310-392-7041; cell: 310-292-1902

Says Control of New Strings Could Threaten Free Internet SANTA MONICA, CA  – Consumer Watchdog has called on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to reject applications from Google and Amazon to buy control of huge swaths of the Internet by purchasing new generic Top Level Domains. In an open letter to [...]