Inside Google

SANTA MONICA – Google is taking advantage of its monopoly position in search to charge merchants more for placement in Google Shopping, causing higher prices for consumers, a Consumer Watchdog study has found. The nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest group is filing the study, made Nov. 11 and Nov. 12, with the European Commission as part of the group’s comments on a proposal to settle the Commission’s antitrust investigation of Google.

SANTA MONICA, CA. – Google’s $17 million settlement with states attorneys general demonstrates the Internet giant’s business strategy of doing whatever it wants and then buying its way out of trouble when caught breaking the rules, Consumer Watchdog said today.

SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog has endorsed the bipartisan, bicameral Do Not Track Kids bill introduced in Congress today, but added that all users of the Internet should be entitled to protection by a Do Not Track law.

SANTA MONICA, CA – Google’s latest proposal to settle a European antitrust investigation does nothing to solve the underlying problem of how the Internet giant manipulates results and favors its own services in search, Consumer Watchdog said today as it released the proposal and questions the European Commission is asking about it.

SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog has challenged Google to make public its latest proposal to settle the European Commission’s antitrust investigation by 5 p.m. Wednesday, or the public interest group said it would release the proposed deal itself.

WASHINGTON, DC — Google continued to lead tech firms in lobbying expenses during the third quarter, spending $3.4 million on its effort to buy influence with federal legislators and policymakers, according to disclosure forms just filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

WASHINGTON – A coalition of 23 US consumer, privacy and public interest groups today wrote the European Parliament expressing strong support for the proposed European Data Protection Regulation because “we believe that the promotion of stronger privacy standards in Europe will benefit consumers around the globe.”

SANTA MONICA, CA — Consumer Watchdog joined the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and three other public interest groups today in re-iterating their opposition to a proposed $8.5 million settlement in a class action suit against Google for privacy violations in the way it handled users’ search data because proposed recipients of settlement funds don’t represent the interests of the class.

SANTA MONICA, CA — In a seminal decision for online privacy, a federal judge in San Jose, CA., today rejected Google’s claims that wiretapping laws do not apply to its Gmail business and that consumers who email people with Gmail accounts have no legitimate expectation of privacy.

Consumer Watchdog Says U.S. Attorney Should Launch Probe
SANTA MONICA, CA — Google’s top executives avoided paying millions of dollars in local property taxes on their fleet of aircraft based at NASA’s Moffett Field, as well as bought government fuel substantially below market price, a new investigative report shows. Consumer Watchdog today said the U.S. Attorney should investigate.