Archive | August, 2009

Curbs Urged For Behavioral Ads

31. August 2009

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. 

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Consumer Advocates To Corner Congress With Behavioral Targeting

31. August 2009

The Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Watchdog and several other advocates are hosting a conference call Sept. 1 to make recommendations about how Congress may better regulate behavioral targeting. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft all use behavioral targeting to better serve ads to Web surfers. The groups want to be heard by Congress, which is working on legislature to better protect consumer privacy online.

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Press Release

Microsoft’s Secret ‘Screw Google’ Meetings In D.C.

CONTACT:

28. August 2009

In recent months, two heavily detailed, annotated versions of
confidential Google slide presentations — one dealing with competition
issues, the other with behavioral targeting — have been published by a
Santa Monica–based group called Consumer Watchdog. The annotations are
highly critical of Google and seek to rebut the search giant’s
arguments.

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Following the money in L.A.’s proposed Google email deal

24. August 2009

L.A. City council is wrestling with a proposal to shift the city’s 30,000 email users and other computer applications to a system provided by Google.  Anytime a deal like this is under consideration, it’s worth checking the money trail. I examined records kept by the Los Angeles Ethics Commission to see who paid what to whom.