News Clipping
The Consumer Watchdog activist group asked the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the “Spyphone Scandal.” “The probe should extend beyond the software developer, Carrier IQ, and include operating systems developers like Google and Apple as well as carriers and device manufacturers, the nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest group said.
News Clipping
Advocacy group Consumer Watchdog announced this afternoon that it has sent letters to the Justice Department and the FCC calling on them to investigate not only Carrier IQ, but also operating system makers, as well as handset manufacturers and phone carriers for their role in what it has dubbed the “Spyphone scandal.”
News Clipping
“If they’re gathering every individual’s keystrokes, that’s a tremendous invasion of privacy, John Simpson, director of the privacy project at Consumer Watchdog, told TechNewsWorld.
News Clipping
Consumer Watchdog, a group that published a study about mortgage ad scams nine months ago, is calling for criminal charges and financial penalties against the major search engines in the current investigation. “These Internet company executives were active enablers of fraud against vulnerable homeowners,” said John Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s privacy project. “They cannot be allowed to benefit from these ill-gotten gains.”
News Clipping
Consumer Watchdog, a group that frequently criticizes Google, wasted no time on Monday calling for executives at Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo to be charged with crimes for allowing the ads to go up in the first place.
News Clipping
“Clearly Microsoft and Yahoo have been turning a blind eye to these scammers,” said John Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project. “Simply put, too many Internet companies including Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo–under the guise of an open Internet–allow and even encourage scam ads from which they make millions of dollars.”
Press Release
SANTA MONICA CA – Consumer Watchdog today said executives of leading Internet companies Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! should face criminal charges for their roles in allowing mortgage modification ad scammers to advertise on their sites.
News Clipping
“Google should never have published these ads, but its executives turned a blind eye to these fraudsters for far too long because of the substantial revenue such advertising generates,” says John Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project. “The company cannot be allowed to benefit from these ill-gotten gains. Google must donate the money to aid homeowners who were victimized because of its callous quest for profits.”
News Clipping
One Google critic, the public advocacy firm, Consumer Watchdog, wants Google held accountable. It put out a report in February blasting Google for taking these fraudulent ads. They suggest that Google be fined in order to help compensate the victims of these scams.
Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today called on Google to donate the tainted revenue it received from deceptive ads preying on vulnerable homeowners to non-profit groups that help consumers with credit problems, including homeowners seeking to avoid foreclosure. The mortgage modification scams were first revealed in a Consumer Watchdog report last February.
