Inside Google

A number of recent public opinion surveys have shown support for do-not-track mechanisms. Consumer Watchdog said a poll commissioned last summer showed that 84% of respondents wanted to prevent online companies from tracking personal information without a person’s explicit, written approval.

The state bill (SB 671), the so-called “Do Not Track Me” law, would allow people to opt out of the “collection, use, and storage” of personal data by any firm. Consumer Watchdog, a backer of the bill, has challenged Google to support such privacy protection.

John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog said it’s still unclear whether any of the federal measures will pass and, in any case, there’s no reason for the Golden State to wait. It could put pressure on federal legislators and regulators to catch up. He noted that a law implementing the “Do Not Call” register, which many see as an analog to “Do Not Track,” passed in California before a federal law was enacted.

Privacy advocates welcomed the idea of a grand jury probe, saying consumers often had little information about how the apps they downloaded were sharing data collected from their mobile devices. “I think of them as spy phones, not smart phones,” said John M. Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s privacy project.

In December, the FTC recommended that the technology industry create a do-no-track tool for Web users. In the following months, Google, Mozilla and Microsoft all announced do-not-track features in their browsers. Those browsers offer simple ways for Web users to opt out of tracking efforts, said John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s privacy director.

The legislation would require businesses to “provide a consumer in California with a method to opt out” of the “collection, use and storage” of consumer information, the bill states. It also gives the California Attorney General and the California Office of Privacy Protection the authority to “develop and enforce do-not-track regulations,” according to a press release issued today by Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit advocacy group.

“I don’t think the average consumer has any idea that what most people consider smartphones are nothing more than spy phones,” said John Simpson, director of the privacy project at Consumer Watchdog.

The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, which is sponsoring Lowenthal’s bill, says that if it is enacted, California would become the first state to give people the right to eschew online tracking.

SACRAMENTO, CA ­– Consumer Watchdog unveiled new landmark California legislation to allow consumers in the state to stop unwanted online tracking and, in a letter, challenged Google CEO Larry Page, in his first day on the job, to support the “Do Not Track Me” plan and demonstrate Google is moving in a new direction. The bill, SB 761, was introduced by Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D- Long Beach, and sponsored by Consumer Watchdog.

The privacy group Consumer Watchdog is challenging Google to improve its privacy standards as the company undergoes a regime change in its top office. On Larry Page’s first day as chief executive, the watchdog asked him to support a Do-Not-Track regime for Internet privacy outlined in a California state bill.