Inside Google

A group of 10 consumer advocacy groups, including the U.S. Public
Interest Research Group, Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of
America, has called on the U.S. Congress to enact legislation to
protect consumer privacy amid the growing use of Internet technology
that tracks consumers’ online behavior. A bill is expected to be
submitted this fall in the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s
Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet.

The National Writers Union and Consumer Watchdog were among those to
file briefs urging rejection as the Google Book Search Settlement
deadline officially passed this morning. Although the final lineup of
objectors won’t be known until all the last-minute briefs have been
processed by the court, the groups join DC Comics, The American Society
of Journalists and Authors, a coalition of some 58 authors and the Open
Book Alliance (which includes Google competitors Microsoft and
Amazon.com) in urging the court to reject the proposed settlement.

Brief Argues Books Settlement Violates Both U.S. And International Copyright Law, Is Anticompetitive

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Consumer Watchdog today filed a brief urging a
federal court to reject the proposed Google Books settlement because it
is anticompetitive and violates both U.S. and international law.
 Separately, the consumer group called a Books privacy policy Google
offered late last week inadequate.

As Congress considers new privacy legislation, consumer and privacy
groups have put forward their proposals for limiting online data
collection. A coalition of groups including the Center for Digital
Democracy, Consumer Watchdog and the Electronic Frontier Foundation
submitted its views to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

A group of ten consumer groups on Tuesday called on Congress to enact
meaningful privacy legislation, and slammed industry efforts as totally
inadequate. The groups are most concerned about behavioral tracking, a technique
used by Internet companies to serve up more targeted ads or results
based on your Web
browsing activities. Are you searching for information on Paris? You
might see ads on the right-hand bar for travel deals or hotels, or
links to blog posts about the French city.

Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft employ behavioral
targeting, in which cookies collect information on users’ Web browsing
habits, to better tailor online ad campaigns for Web surfing consumers.
This practice doesn’t sit well with consumer and privacy advocates,
which urged Congress to crack down on behavioral targeting and asked
the Federal Trade Commission to set up a registry to help users opt out
of such practices.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of consumer advocate and privacy groups on Tuesday urged the US
Congress to protect the public from intrusive and often secretive tracking of their online activities and identity.

Ten consumer and privacy groups are urging Congress to
limit the way online information can be used for advertising and
profiling.

A coalition of ten consumer and privacy groups on Tuesday urged Congress to draft new legislation
to preserve consumer privacy online by limiting behavioral advertising
and establishing new ground rules for information collection and use.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Privacy advocates are gearing up to push for broad electronic privacy legislation this fall, hoping to convince lawmakers that businesses’ self-regulation techniques are inadequate. The groups also say Internet companies’ efforts don’t go far enough.
"Self regulation does not work. We’ve seen it in capital markets. We’ve
seen it online," said Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson.

A powerful alliance of privacy and consumer groups
have likened behavioral advertising to "being followed by an invisible
stalker."

"An individual’s data belongs to them and before these companies
track you all over the internet, they need to be transparent about what
they are doing and how they intend to use that information," said John
M. Simpson, consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog.