Blog Post
I’m just back from a sweltering week in Washington, DC, convinced that those of us who care about protecting consumers’ online privacy have reason for optimism. There is growing interest in creating a “Do Not Track Me” list and mechanism to implement it.
Blog Post
A Wall Street Journal article this week details how Google is increasingly moving to maximize profits from the vast amount of personal data it has amassed in its global network of servers at the expense of consumers’ privacy. Google chairman Eric Schmidt once claimed Google put its money “where our principles are.” The Journal’s revealing article showing how profits triumph over privacy demonstrates the stark reality: Google puts its principles where the money is.
Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA — Google and Verizon’s new joint broadband proposal pays lip service to the idea of “net neutrality,” but actually would completely undermine the open and free Internet we enjoy, Consumer Watchdog said today.
Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FBI and DEA are now making extensive use of Google Earth, according to federal spending records. Consumer Watchdog is filing Freedom of Information Act requests with the agencies today to determine how the Internet giant’s digital mapping technology is being used for domestic surveillance, including whether it is used for racial profiling or other abuses of civil liberties.
Blog Post
Several progress groups like MoveOn.org and Color of Change have launched online petition campaigns aimed at persuading Google to stick with its earlier espoused principles on “net neutrality” and not cut a a deal with telecommunications giant Verizon that would undermine an open Internet.
Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA — Google is compromising a long standing principle it claimed to support in an effort to boost profits as it backs away from a key premise of an open Internet — “net neutrality,” Consumer Watchdog said today.
Blog Post
Google has a stranglehold on search with 65 percent of the U.S. market — and even more in some other countries — but writing in Fortune magazine, Michael C. Copeland, says the Internet giant needs to find new sources of revenue or lose its status as a growth company.
Video
We need your help. Sign our petition and demand that Google comes clean about the Wi-Spy scandal. Demand that Congress hold hearings immediately into the question of why Google thinks it’s OK to gather our private data and what they plan on doing with it. Google must also explain its relationship with the National Security Agency.
Press Release
Americans Favor Broad Range Of Online Privacy Protections for Consumers
SANTA MONICA, CA — A significant majority of Americans are troubled by recent revelations that Google’s Street View cars gathered communications from home WiFi networks, and they want stronger legal protection to preserve their online privacy, according to a national opinion poll released today by Consumer Watchdog.
