Inside Google

Maybe Google CEO Eric Schmidt thought he was making a joke, but you’d think by now — if he is at all serious about respecting consumers’ privacy — the billionaire executive would understand that privacy is not a laughing matter.

You’ve probably heard the description of ways to mislead people that was attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disreali and popularized in this country by Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” Now we can add a fourth: Googlespeak.

In the US, Consumer Watchdog advocate John Simpson said it is difficult to trust Google because it keeps changing its story. “First they said they didn’t gather data; then they said they did, but it was only fragments; and today they finally admit entire e-mails and URLs were captured, as well as passwords,” said Simpson. “Maybe some Google executives are beginning to get it: Privacy matters. The reality, though, is that the company’s entire culture needs to change.”

The United Kingdom privacy watchdog has finally joined eighteen other nations in investigating Google for its Wi-Spying, the Internet giant’s clandestine acquisition of personal user information from wireless networks while taking photographs for its Street View mapping service.

Consumer Watchdog, a non-profit group that monitors Google’s privacy work, reacted with skepticism. “Maybe some Google executives are beginning to get it: privacy matters. The reality, though, is that the company’s entire culture needs to change, ” John Simpson, director of the group’s Inside Google Project, said in a statement.

SANTA MONICA, CA — Consumer Watchdog welcomed three new steps Google said it is implementing to protect consumers’ privacy in response to the Wi-Spying scandal, but challenged the Internet giant to prove the measures are more than a public relations ploy.

In a move that’s either deeply pragmatic or deeply cynical, Silicon Valley’s most openly pro-Democratic company shifted course this fall and gave more than half its political action committee donations to Republicans. Google Inc. NetPAC gave Republicans $57,500 between July and October, the group’s filing this week with the Federal Election Committee shows. That’s 55% of the $105,000 total contributions; Democrats received $47,500 or 45%.

For the first nine months of 2010, Google spent $3.92 million, approaching the $4.03 million the search giant spent wooing federal officials in all of 2009, Senate disclosure records show. “Google has a group of well-connected lobbyists and is willing to spend freely to influence federal lawmakers and regulators,” says John M. Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Inside Google Project. “They appear to be on track to spend a total of $5 million to peddle influence this year.”

Google Inc. has dodged $3.1 billion in taxes in the last three years, reports Jesse Drucker of Bloomberg, giving new meaning to CEO Eric Schmidt’s recent comment to analysts: “We love cash.” The question now is how much longer Goolge can continue to draw on its positive image as the “Don’t-Be-Evil” company.

SANTA MONICA, CA — Google increased its spending on lobbying 11 percent over the previous year to $1.2 million in the third quarter demonstrating the Internet giant’s willingness to spend to shape federal policy, Consumer Watchdog said today. In the comparable quarter a year ago Google spent $1.08 million. A key to Google’s lobbying effort is its well-connected Washington staff, the nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest group said.