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Backer of Google Critic Supports Research Showing Users Don’t Want Tailored Ads
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Roughly two-thirds of Americans oppose being
tracked on the Internet in exchange for receiving tailored advertising,
according to a new study by scholars from the University of
Pennsylvania and the University of California, Berkeley.
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A New York judge has put Google’s vision of creating the world’s biggest digital library on hold.
Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo have filed objections to
the settlement with the court, along with the French and German
governments, privacy advocates and consumer watchdog groups. "Clearly voices such as ours had an impact on Judge
Chin," wrote consumer watchdog advocate John Simpson in an email to BBC
News. "There was no way the proposed settlement could go
forward. We believe that the proper place to solve many of the case’s
thorniest problems, such as that of orphan books, is in Congress
because it is important to build digital libraries."
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Google Inc. and groups of authors and publishers are working to modify a $125 million settlement to create a digital library following criticism from parties including the U.S. Justice Department, the groups said. “Google and the authors and publisher groups are back at square one,”
John Simpson, an advocate at Consumer Watchdog, a group in Santa
Monica, California, said in a statement.
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Officials
cite concerns that the agreement with authors and publishers could run
afoul of antitrust and copyright laws. But they also propose
modifications to make the settlement pass muster.
In
recent months, many groups have voiced concerns over whether the
agreement would give Google too much pricing power and whether the
Mountain View, Calif., company would adequately safeguard reader
privacy. Consumer Watchdog praised the move by Justice
officials. "This is a victory for consumers and the broader public
interest," said a group advocate, John Simpson.
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Concerns Over Class Action, Copyright, Antitrust Law
The DoJ was also praised by the consumer watchdog known as Consumer
Watchdog, a notorious thorn in Google’s side. But the watchdog argues
that even if the DoJ’s concerns are alleviated, the court should reject
the settlement. "Solving the antitrust problem is only [part] of the
problem,” said Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson.
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The Department of Justice said the Google Book Search settlement would violate class action, copyright and antitrust law and said it should not be approved without changes. Consumer advocates were joyous about the DOJ’s finding: "This is a victory for consumers and the broad public
interest," said John M. Simpson, consumer advocate with Consumer
Watchdog. "Consumer Watchdog supports digitization and digital
libraries in a robust competitive market open to all organizations,
both for-profit and non-profit, that offer fundamental privacy
guarantees to users. But a single entity cannot be allowed to build a
digital library based on a monopolistic advantage when its answer to
serious questions from responsible critics boils down to: ‘Trust us.
Our motto is "Don’t be evil."’"
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.
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The U.S. Department of Justice has come out against the proposed
agreement to settle copyright lawsuits that authors and major
publishers filed against Google over the search company’s book search
program. Consumer Watchdog, a
consumer protection organization that earlier this year urged the DOJ
to get involved, filed a 30-page document opposing the agreement,
saying it will "strip rights from millions of absent class members,
worldwide, in violation of national and international copyright law,
for the sole benefit of Google. There should be a competitive book-search market, while the U.S.
Congress must solve the orphan works problem. The parties simply cannot justify this ‘solution’ which does not
adequately protect the Rightsholders and unfairly benefits a single
party," reads the Consumer Watchdog statement.
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The U.S. Department of Justice late Friday urged the court overseeing Google’s book search settlement with authors and publishers to reject the settlement in its current form, although it strongly hinted that the parties are flexible on certain provisions.
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Consumer advocate group Consumer Watchdog asked the DOJ to enforce this offer. Privacy advocates oppose the deal because they believe Google will collect too much info on users without proper precautions to protect readers’ privacy.
