Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA. – Consumer Watchdog joined the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and three other public interest groups today in opposing a proposed $8.5 million settlement in a class action suit against Google for privacy violations in the way it handled users’ search data because of at least “three obvious deficiencies” in the proposal.
Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA – Google is either lying to the court or lying to the public, Consumer Watchdog said today, after the Internet giant made new public claims asserting it respects users’ privacy that contradicted an earlier court filing it made. Google said in a court filing that there was no legitimate expectation of privacy when emails were sent to its system.
Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA — In a stunning admission contained in a brief filed recently in federal court, lawyers for Google said people should not expect privacy when they send messages to a Gmail account. Consumer Watchdog said today that people who care about their email correspondents’ privacy should not use the Internet giant’s service.
Press Release
Obama Must Propose Legislation If He Cares About Privacy, Consumer Watchdog Says
WASHINGTON, DC – A yearlong effort convened by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) demonstrates the futility of crafting codes of conduct through a voluntary multi-stakeholder process and the way participants were asked their opinion of the proposed code makes a mockery of the effort, Consumer Watchdog said today.
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Technology companies continued to pump money into their lobbying efforts during the second quarter, with Google leading the pack spending $3.36 million on its effort to buy influence with federal legislators and policymakers, according to disclosure forms filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Blog Post
Google apparently is ending an egregious privacy breach involving people who buy apps from its Google Play store using Google Wallet to pay. Consumer Watchdog filed a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission with a copy to California Attorney General Kamala Harris about what Google was doing. The complaint alleged that the Internet giant was violating its privacy policies and its “Buzz” consent agreement with the FTC.
Blog Post
Details of Google’s proposed settlement with the European Union to avoid antitrust charges have been leaking out of Brussels over the weekend. And while EU competition authorities appear to have accomplished more that the gentle tap on the wrist meted out by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the deal as so far revealed doesn’t do enough to end Google’s anti-competitive practices.
Blog Post
Google’s privacy chief, Alma Whitten, is stepping down the Internet giant confirmed Monday. Since word of her departure came out on April Fools’ Day many folks probably thought this was part of the company’s annual elaborate pranks like its “announcement” of a new service called “Google Nose.”
Eleven Internet Companies are pressing European antitrust regulators to take strong action against Google so that the Internet giant’s smaller rivals aren’t hurt. And what happens across the pond in this case could have an impact on possible antitrust action in the United States.
Google may have only received a tap on the wrist from the Federal Trade Commission when the agency closed the U.S. antitrust investigation without taking action against the Internet giant for skewing search results to favor its services, but it’s looking increasingly likely that Google will face strong action on the other side of the Atlantic.
