Inside Google

Oh Snap! Consumer Watchdog kicks Google and CEO Schmidt HARD!

Picture a 540-square-foot animated ad, a cartoon video mocking Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt; now picture it running twice an hour, 36 times per day, in New York’s Times Square. Consumer Watchdog has launched a huge and very public campaign against Google, highlighting its concerns over Google’s privacy policies and the need for Congress to enact a national ‘Do Not Track Me’ list. The massive cartoon digital advertisement is titled “Don’t Be Evil?” The avatar-style animation features Schmidt driving an ice cream truck and offering “free” ice cream while he secretly spies on children.

Google, Verizon Offer Internet Proposal

Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog, however, said that while the new broadband proposal “pays lip service to the idea of net neutrality,” it would actually “completely undermine the open and free Internet we enjoy.” John M. Simpson, consumer advocate with the nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest group, said there are two main problems with the proposal.

Google WiFi Data Collection Questions Whether America Protects Privacy At All

According to a new poll from Consumer Watchdog a major part of Americans are very concerned about the privacy issues arousing from Google’s Street View data collection. Much covered reports about Google’s gathering private information from users’ WiFi networks make US consumers doubt in the efficiency of privacy protection measures implemented today, they want better privacy protections put in place.

Google Has Been Fibbing About Data Mining

Consumer Watchdog has said that the Energy and Commerce Committee really must conduct hearings into Google privacy violations, with information coming to light about Google’s classified contracts with the US government.

Google Street View Scanned US Politicos

A US consumer site claimed that Google Street View may well have cast its beady Orwellian eye over US politicians’ wi-fi networks. Consumer Watchdog said that if that happened, US national security data could have been compromised. It said that Representative Jane Harman, who chairs the Intelligence Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee “has at least one wireless network in her Washington DC home that could have been breached by Google.”

Critics Call on Feds to Squelch a Google Monopoly

The concerns set forth by Microsoft, Consumer Watchdog, and other observers go beyond whether Google gives unfair prominence in search rankings to paid advertisers. Critiques range from “A company such a Google could abuse its search dominance” to “Google is already abusing its search dominance” to push its other revenue-generating services — such as maps, video, and shopping searches — at the expense of competitors.

Google: $14.1B Generated in California, $54B in Nation in 2009; Consumer Group Scoffs

Consumer Watchdog said Google’s economic report relies on cooked accounting that only counts benefits while factoring in none of the costs Google places on society.

Google Cars Pulled After Privacy “Mistake”

One of Google’s most outspoken critics is Consumer Watchdog; and, after this latest news, it is renewing its call for a regulatory crackdown on the company.

Press Release

Genentech Chairman Resigns From Google Board

Consumer Advocacy Groups Call For Internet Privacy Protections

A group of 10 consumer advocacy groups, including the U.S. Public
Interest Research Group, Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of
America, has called on the U.S. Congress to enact legislation to
protect consumer privacy amid the growing use of Internet technology
that tracks consumers’ online behavior. A bill is expected to be
submitted this fall in the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s
Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet.