FTC Calls for Laws to Protect Consumer Privacy on Internet
“An important consensus is emerging on the need to take significant steps to protect online privacy rights,” says John Simpson, spokesman for the non-profit Consumer Watchdog advocacy group.
Continue reading...Will Congress make Obama’s Privacy Bill of Rights law?
Thursday, February 23, 2012
“The real question is how much influence companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook will have in their inevitable attempt to water down the rules that are implemented and render them essentially meaningless,” says John Simpson, spokesman for Consumer Watchdog. ” I am skeptical about the ‘multi-stakeholder process’, but am willing to make a good faith effort to try it.
Continue reading...Consumer Group Objects to Google’s Secret Briefing
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
“Your investigation into Google’s practices that affect millions of Americans should be public,” John M. Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s privacy project, wrote in this letter to Mack. “There is a substantial irony in a secret briefing from a company that claims its mission is to organize the world’s information and make it more accessible.”
Continue reading...Google Has Long Had Ability To Track You Across Its Services
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
“What these unilateral decisions by Google and Facebook demonstrate is a complete disregard for their users’ interests and concerns,” says John Simpson, spokesman for Consumer Watchdog. “It’s an uncommonly arrogant approach not usually seen in business, where these companies believe they can do whatever they want with our data, whenever and however they want to do it.”
Continue reading...Europe Taking Much Stricter Stance On Do-Not-Track Rules
Thursday, September 1, 2011
John Simpson, spokesman for the non-profit Consumer Watchdog advocacy group says “the Europeans have exactly the right approach. They are asking that a consumer must be given the right to opt in before a cookie is placed.” Simpson says the IAB’s icon alert mechanism is “mostly window dressing.” He says if European regulators do end up imposing a strict opt-in rule across Europe, Google, Facebook and the other data aggregators and ad networks will be forced to comply to do business in Europe.
Continue reading...Critics Calls for Deeper Scrutiny of Dubious Google Ads
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The non-profit advocacy group Consumer Watchdog is calling for federal regulators to take a closer look at home loan, credit repair and health products ads that rely on Google’s AdWords technology to saturate the Internet with dubious advertising claims. That comes after the U.S. Department of Justice today hit Google with a $500 million sanction for enabling AdWords ads promoting illegal pharmaceutical drugs.
Continue reading...Web Tracking Has Become A Privacy Time Bomb
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Google has been widely known to scan the contents of Gmail messages to deliver targeted text ads. While some don’t mind, others believe scanning e-mail to deliver more relevant ads is an invasion of privacy. John Simpson, spokesman for the non-profit advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, isn’t convinced the search giant will necessarily stop there. “Part of the problem is that Google collects and stores tremendous amounts of data about its users,” Simpson says. “The only assurance we have about what Google’s intentions are boils down to ‘Trust us.'”
Continue reading...Google’s Top Execs Refuse To Testify At Senate Hearing
Friday, June 24, 2011
Consumer Watchdog has been clamoring for Schmidt’s sworn testimony before Congress for over a year, ever since Germany caught Google harvesting private Wi-Fi data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks in homes and businesses across the globe. Google had dispatched fleets of specially equipped cars through city streets in 30-plus nations to gather this data.
Continue reading...FCC Announces a Public Forum on Smartphone Location Tracking Systems
Thursday, May 19, 2011
John Simpson, spokesman for Consumer Watchdog, notes that the FCC is continuing an investigation into Google’s past practice of sending fleets of specially equipped vehicles criss-crossing city streets in 30-plus nations to take photos for its mapping service — and to collect data from Wi-Fi systems in homes and businesses.
Continue reading...Google Deflects PR Firm’s Attack of Gmail Privacy
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
“Much of Google’s privacy problems stem from the company’s culture,” says John Simpson, spokesman for the non-profit Consumer Watchdog. “They hire like-minded engineers who push the creepy line, then apologize when they get caught with their fingers in the cookie jar.”
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Tuesday, March 27, 2012
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