Inside Google

I ventured into the DC Googleplex last night for one of the company’s “Google D.C. Talks” and no one challenged me at the door. It looks like Consumer Watchdog isn’t on a no-entry list after our latest investigation into Google’s Wi-Spy wiretapping activities. No one was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement to get in either, as they usually ask visitors to do.

As Google grows in size, so does its political influence. And, while this may not overly worry most people, there is one man who is keeping a close watch on the search engine firm. He is Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson, and one gets the feeling that he revels in his role of giant-killer.

It’s not the first time that Google’s doings in Washington have hit the headlines–but perhaps it is the first time that Google is being attacked from all sides. Its lobbying spend for the first quarter of 2010–$1.3 million [2]–was released three months ago, and set on by Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson. The non-profit, non-partisan organization has its own Inside Google website, which last week scored a hit on the firm via its data-collecting methods.

Consumer Watchdog’s Inside Google, an investigative branch of Watchdog, has completed an investigation on the data collection practices of Google. It appears that the vehicles taking pictures for the Google Street View application on Google Maps have been also been scanning local wireless networks. Now members of Congress are pushing congressional hearings based on what they’ve found.

In another Google story, the Financial Times (registration required) punctures some of the mythology around the legendary algorithm that powers Google search. First of all, it’s a work in progress. There were some 500 tweaks to the algorithm last year alone, some of which radically effect online businesses, some of whom are Google competitors.

More fallout from Google’s proposed purchase of Internet advertising powerhouse ITA Software, which was announced earlier this month.

In an effort to spur a Congressional investigation in the States, the consumer watchdog known as Consumer Watchdog has retraced Street View’s past Washington D.C. routes and found that various members of Congress have open Wi-Fi networks whose data may have been lifted by the Google cars. The watchdog wrote a letter to Representative Jane Harman, chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment and a former ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, telling her that Google may have lifted her personal info.

Australia’s Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis says Google’s Wi-Spy snooping violated the law down under, but instead of punishing the company she asked for an apology and a promise to do the right thing going forward. Apparently that’s the most she could do.

Last week the French Competition Authority officially declared Google a monopoly. Said the NYT: “That conclusion is hardly novel, but the decision appears to go beyond any previous official ruling in the United States or elsewhere.”