Blog Post
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) announced today that it intends to award Google a $27 million sole source contract for visualization technology, the largest known contract between the Internet firm and a national security agency.
Blog Post
Google’s emergence as a major defense contractor was underscored last week when the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency tweaked its Aug. 20 announcement of a sole-source contract to the search giant for visualization services.
Blog Post
Google’s April Fool joke this year – renaming its search site “Topeka” – was a self-congratulatory disappointment compared with some of the funny self-parodies of previous years, for instance, here or here. The mayor of…
Blog Post
Sometime soon, my refrigerator could be spying on my late night ice cream binges. Right now it’s just a large frost-free appliance that doesn’t talk back. But when it starts to network on the Smart Grid via a meter and Google’s PowerMeter application, will Google be analyzing my high-cholesterol snacks?
News Clipping
Google wants the city of Los Angeles to switch its 30,000 e-mail users
to an Internet-based system it operates, but rather than address real
questions about the security of such "cloud computing" systems the
Internet giant changes its story depending on its audience.
Blog Post
I spent all afternoon Monday waiting at the LA City Council Budget Committee to give the Council members my two minutes on why Google’s proposal to put the City’s computing into its cloud could be dangerous. In a nutshell: Security,…
Press Release
Group Also Releases 3rd Round Of Annotated Google Documents In ‘Charmwatch’ Campaign
SANTA MONICA, CA — Consumer Watchdog today slammed Google for its
apparent hypocrisy in marketing its new "cloud computing" products,
blandly assuring customers that their data is secure on Google Internet
servers but at the same time warning shareholders of the security risks
posed by swift expansion of its commercial online business. The
nonpartisan, nonprofit group sent a letter to a Los Angeles City
Councilman showing that Google says one thing when trying to sell its
products, but something else in federally required filings aimed at
shareholders. Consumer Watchdog also released another round of
annotated Google P.R. documents in its Google “Charmwatch” campaign.
News Clipping
In a letter last week to City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, John Simpson
of advocacy group Consumer Watchdog noted the stark language Google
uses to describe the many things that could go wrong with its
cloud-based systems.
News Clipping
A federal judge has granted authors worldwide four more months to
decide whether to participate in a settlement involving Google’s online
Book Search service. "The four-month extension is a big victory for those who oppose the
Google Books settlement," said John Simpson, a consumer advocate with
Consumer Watchdog. "It’s a clear recognition by the judge that there
are problems with the proposed deal. The extension also gives the
Justice Department more time to consider the antitrust issues that we
and others have raised and discussed with them."
