Blog Post
Both the Democratic and Republican Senate campaign committees are holding big fundraisers — the Democrats today at Google headquarters and the Republicans on Monday and Tuesday at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, DC. Consumer Watchdog objected to the Democratic event.
Press Release
Public Policy Should Be Decided In Hearing Room With Sunlight And Transparency, Group Says
SANTA MONICA, CA — Warning that a Democratic Senate Campaign Committee
Fundraiser scheduled to be held at Google’s headquarters in Mountain
View, CA, on Friday created an appearance of a conflict of interest,
Consumer Watchdog called on the seven Senators scheduled to appear not
to attend.
Press Release
Group Calls for ‘Make-Me-Anonymous’ Button On Home Page
SANTA MONICA, CA — The new Google Dashboard touted by the Internet
giant as offering users “transparency, choice and control” of user data
stored by the company doesn’t give consumers adequate control over
protecting their information from Google’s marketing machine, Consumer
Watchdog said today. Consumer Watchdog applauded the company for giving consumers a single
place to go to manage data, but said Google needed to give consumers
the ability to stop being tracked by the company and to delete
information associated with their computer’s IP address from the Google
servers.
Press Release
Project Demands Close Monitoring To Guarantee Citizen’s Privacy Consumer Watchdog Says
Los Angeles, CA — The Los Angeles City Council voted today to move the
city’s 30,000 email users to a system provided by Google, but only
after a provision that the city be compensated if there is security
breach in the data held on Google’s servers.
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.
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.
Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA — Arthur D. Levinson, a member of both Google and Apple’s boards, acted correctly in resigning from Google’s board, Consumer Watchdog said today.
"We’re pleased that Arthur Levinson finally realized that…
Press Release
Consumer Watchdog Says Copyright Issues For Congress, Not Closed-Door Deals
SANTA M0NICA, CA —Publisher and author associations sought today to
cancel a key hearing in the Google Books case to allow private
negotiations with Google over digitizing books online. Consumer
Watchdog warned that important issues affecting copyright law should
not be negotiated behind closed doors.
Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA — Consumer Watchdog praised the U.S. Justice
Department for objecting to the proposed Google Books settlement in a
brief the department filed in U.S. District Court tonight. The nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer group had asked the Justice
Department to intervene in the case on antitrust grounds last April.
Justice announced it was investigating in July. Justice’s objections
tonight went beyond antitrust concerns.
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC — Any plan offered by Google meant to overcome
objections to the proposed Google Books settlement must include a
“binding agreement with the full force of law,” Consumer Watchdog told
the U.S. Justice Department today. Justice has until Friday to file
its position on the books settlement with the court.
