Press Release
Washington, DC — Consumer Watchdog warned President Obama in a letter today about the dire consequences for consumers worldwide of appointing Google CEO Eric Schmidt Commerce Secretary.
Blog Post
The Obama Administration threw its weight behind privacy legislation Wednesday as Assistant Commerce Secretary Lawrence Strickling testified before the Senate Commerce Committee about online privacy. Clearly Washington is focusing on privacy issues, but will meaningful consumer protections be enacted? There is cause for concern.
Blog Post
It took a lawsuit from Rosetta Stone, the language software company, and a Congressional hearing, but Google apparently has finally been embarrassed into taking responsibility for policing some shady ads on its search engine site.
Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A “multi-stakeholder process” to develop online privacy codes advocated today by the Obama Administration runs the risk of being dominated by industry and failing to protect consumers if it is not organized in a fair and balanced manner, six public interest groups warned. The groups include Consumer Watchdog, The Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Action, U.S. PIRG and the World Privacy Forum.
Blog Post
The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee plan to examine Google’s activities for possible antitrust violations, is the latest indication that the Internet giant’s behavior is drawing increasingly skeptical — and well deserved — scrutiny in the nation’s capital.
News Clipping
The do not track concept is supported across all demographic lines — including political persuasions. According to Consumer Watchdog, 86 percent of Americans want a “Do Not Track” button created. In addition, 70 percent of Facebook members and 52 percent of Google users say they are either “somewhat” or “very concerned about their privacy, according to a recent a recent USA Today poll.
Blog Post
Google’s grand experiment in photographing the world’s places for Google Maps has taken its “street view” cameras off-road with new hi-tech tricycles equipped with 360 degree view cameras to photograph the back roads, parks, college paths and inner sanctums of our world. The engineer’s latest design raises the question: What will Google be capturing on its back-road tour that people don’t want seen?
News Clipping
Consumer Watchdog spokesman John Simpson said: “Google continues to push the envelope as far as it can and increasingly intrudes in our lives without asking permission. How long will it be before the Internet giant deploys teams with handheld cameras to photograph places where the trikes can’t go?”
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC — Google’s latest privacy breach, gathering children’s social security information on a contest entry form, suggests that the Internet giant did not live up to commitments that prompted the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection to end its inquiry into the Wi-Spy incident, Consumer Watchdog said today.
Blog Post
Concerned with the way Google was gathering social security numbers from children in connection with its “Doodle 4 Google” contest, I wrote to Reps. Ed Markey, D-MA, and Joe Barton, R-TX, calling for hearings in to the incident as well as a look at the Google Wi-Spy scandal. I sent the letter via email around noon today and later this afternoon in a joint statement the co-chairmen of the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus agreed to schedule a hearing.
