Tag Archive | "Google Buzz"
Consumer Watchdog Targets Google
Every month, Simpson comes to Washington to meet with staff on the Hill and regulatory agencies, journalists and corporate lobbyists. Simpson said he met last week with Jim Tierney, chief of the networks and technology section of the antitrust division of the Justice Department, and staffers about his petition for a broad investigation. Last year, he testified before Congress about privacy and competition concerns in Google's book settlement.
Continue reading...Facebook Bug Exposed Users’ Chats, Requests for Friends
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
“The problem is that Silicon Valley companies rush to get technology out and they just do things and ask for forgiveness later,” said John Simpson, who works on privacy issues for Consumer Watchdog. “But too much is at stake.”
Continue reading...New Web Ad Privacy Bill Riles All Sides
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Privacy advocates argue that the bill's exemption for "operational" collection of data--allowing those practices to take place under an "opt-out" rule--gives advertisers far too much leeway. "This bill really adopts an archaic and bankrupt 'notice and consent' regime that we all know doesn't' work," says John Simpson, head of the Google Privacy and Accountability project at Consumer Watchdog.
Continue reading...Internet Consumer Watchdog Asks DOJ to Break Google into Smaller Companies
Thursday, April 22, 2010
One watchdog group called Consumer Watchdog has asked the DOJ this week to break Google into smaller companies to prevent a monopoly situation along the lines of Microsoft. John M. Simpson from Consumer Watchdog is the person who made the request to the DOJ and he argues that the DOJ’s actions against Google’s attempts at buying other advertising firms and scanning books isn’t enough to ensure the search giant doesn’t turn into a monopoly.
Continue reading...Buzz Saw: Privacy Czars Blast Google
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
In a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the “unprecedented” coalition of privacy czars from Europe, Canada and Israel described the surprise conversion of Google’s private email service to a public social networking service without informing users as a violation of “the fundamental principle that individuals should be able to control the use of their personal information."
Continue reading...Issa Presses Web Chief On Personal E-Mail Use To Contact Former Co-Workers
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is pressing White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin to explain his relationship with his former employer, Google. The congressman, who serves as ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, said McLaughlin’s account on Google’s new Buzz social network suggests he remains in touch with “more than two dozen individuals […]
Continue reading...Official’s Buzz Profile Sparks FOIA Request For His Emails
Friday, April 2, 2010
Google’s Buzz has drawn two privacy lawsuits, a request for a Federal Trade Commission investigation and some pointed criticism by lawmakers. Now, information revealed by Buzz about Andrew McLaughlin, Deputy Chief Technology Officer for the Obama administration and former Google lobbyist, has spurred Consumer Watchdog — which opposed McLaughlin’s appointment — to file a Freedom […]
Continue reading...Buzzed Gmail Outs Google Ties to Obama’s Deputy CTO
Friday, April 2, 2010
Ex-Googler Hoist By Mountain View’s Own Petard It would be hard to imagine a better Google story. If the company’s own web services somehow outed the most intimate secrets of CEO Eric Schmidt – a man who says net privacy is only for miscreants – that would surely be Google story to end all Google […]
Continue reading...Ex-Googler Falls Prey to Wonderful Privacy Flaw of Google Buzz
Friday, April 2, 2010
This is a fun story. Andrew McLaughlin, formerly Google’s top lobbyist and currently the deputy CTO in the White House, where he advises President Barack Obama on Internet policy, apparently was aghast to find his contacts exposed by Google Buzz. Buzz is the social Web services that leverage Gmail users’ contacts. By default, Buzz was […]
Continue reading...Consumer Group Seeks Google, White House E-Mails
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Consumer Watchdog said today it filed a Freedom of Information Act request for copies of e-mails traded between the White House’s Deputy Chief Technology Officer and Google Inc., his former employer. Andrew McLaughlin, previously the Mountain View search company’s chief policy executive, unwittingly revealed his exchanges with former colleagues when the Google Buzz service launched […]
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Sunday, May 9, 2010
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