Inside Google

John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog, who has criticized McLaughlin’s appointment from the start, wrote in a blog post: “It’s good he’s gone.”

If Washington fails to act, California should create its own “do not track me” system through the Legislature or the ballot box. The state that pioneered Internet commerce can also lead the way in ensuring that it does not run roughshod over one of our fundamental rights.

Former Google executive Andrew McLaughlin has resigned as Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, prompted at least in part, I think, by issues Consumer Watchdog raised.

“We’re interested in the monopolistic power that Google has, how they are using it and whether it has disadvantaged consumers,” said John Simpson, a director at Consumer Watchdog.

The New York Times editorial questioning Google’s purchase of online flight software company ITA raises questions that could well apply to any new business Google buys unless the Internet Goliath changes its business model.

Santa Monica, CA — The Do Not Track Me function proposed in the Federal Trade Commission’s recently released online privacy report must be extended to include smartphones, Consumer Watchdog said today in the wake of a Wall Street Journal article showing how applications for the iPhone and Android phones widely share personal data without the users’ knowledge or consent.

That answer isn’t satisfactory for privacy pundits such as Consumer Watchdog’s John M. Simpson. “Google’s refusal to give data gathered by its Street View cars from private WiFi networks to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal underscores the need for a Congressional hearing,” Simpson said. “What is Google hiding?

The Wikileaks documents released in the past few days revive that question, first posed in 2006 when the search engine entered the world’s largest market, by revealing some of the hardball tactics that Beijing’s communists are using to bring Mountain View’s capitalists to heel.

The idea of opening a Commerce Department privacy office, which officials said was underway, came under fire from the privacy group Consumer Watchdog, which said the office may not have enough of a consumer focus. “There is a fundamental conflict of interest in putting the administration’s Privacy Policy Office in the Commerce Department,” said John Simpson, a privacy expert with the group, whose sentiments were echoed by other privacy organizations.

While pleased that the agency is bringing attention to the need to do more to protect consumer privacy online, representatives from five privacy groups said in a conference call that the report’s proposed measures are too focused on industry self regulation. It’s a “Christmas gift to the data collection industry from the Obama administration,” according to John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog.