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Google, which has been criticized frequently for amassing large amounts of data about people, is giving users an easy way to find out what information it stores in their accounts. John Simpson, of Consumer Watchdog, a frequent critic of Google, said
Dashboard gave users the appearance of control over privacy but did not
really prevent Google from tracking users across the Web. “What the Dashboard does is list all the information linked directly to
your name, but what it doesn’t do is let you know and control the data
directly tied to your computer’s IP address, which is Google’s black
box and data mine, Mr. Simpson said in a press release. “Google isn’t
truly protecting privacy until it lets you control that information.”

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Google, which has had a bullseye on its back when it comes to Internet privacy, on Thursday launched a Web site that shows people what data Gmail, Google Calendar and more than a dozen other Google products store about them. John Simpson of consumer-advocacy organization Consumer Watchdog said
the dashboard focuses on data that people have consciously shared with
Google while they are logged into various Google accounts, but ignores
all the data that Google collects and ties to a user’s computer address
and through other software, known as cookies. “The dashboard is really the appearance of control without giving users
the ability to see how Google tracks them all over the place,” he said.

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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.

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For Big Bird’s birthday, the Sesame Street icon’s feet replaced the L in Google’s search logo. Is Google pressing Big Bird into the service of its charm offensive?
      
Critics say its corporate motto of
“Don’t be evil” is a smoke screen for invasive procedures that are
stripping away privacy (like scanning your gmail account for keywords
to create targeted advertising). “I love Google. But I also fear Google,” says Jamie Court, president of
Consumer Watchdog. “It’s made finding information remarkably easy, but
I’m not under any illusion that that’s a free lunch. And most Internet
users have had their eyes opened recently to the fact that they are
being tracked and they don’t have a way of stopping that.”

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Google Inc. will announce a feature tomorrow that will give users more
control over their online privacy, according to a consumer advocate who
discussed the matter with the company. John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog hasn’t reviewed Google Dashboard yet,
because he refused to sign a nondisclosure agreement. But attorneys for
the Mountain View search giant informed him the new feature would be
unveiled on Thursday, he told The Chronicle.

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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.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Critics of Google’s deal with an authors’ group to put millions of books online have asked for a delay in a hearing set to consider the settlement in a court filing on Thursday. A long list of critics of the deal, including Yahoo, Amazon, Microsoft, the National Writers Union, Consumer Watchdog and singer Arlo Guthrie, argued on Thursday that the original class action settlement was long and complex and any changes would only add to its complexity

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A consumer advocacy group that is opposed to a plan by the city of Los Angeles to adopt Google’s hosted e-mail and office applications is accusing the company of a double standard on security issues. In a letter to Bernard Parks, chairman of the Los Angeles City
Council’s Budget and Finance Committee, Consumer Watchdog claimed that
Google was being hypocritical in marketing Google Apps to the city.

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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.  

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