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Ardent Google critic Consumer Watchdog has called on Congress to hold hearings on a major privacy breach by the Internet search engine giant, and insists that CEO Eric Schmidt should come to Washington to testify.
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Consumer Watchdog, one of Google’s most persistent critics called on the House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday to hold a hearing into the firm’s Wi-Fi data collection controversy, citing a discrepancy in a Google official’s testimony on the matter during a Senate hearing in June.
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Two weeks after the Federal Trade Commission closed its investigation of online search giant Google’s Street View mapping project without taking action, another government agency is picking up where the FTC left off. Meanwhile, Consumer Watchdog on Thursday requested a congressional investigation and testimony under oath from Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Alma Whitten, the company’s director of privacy for engineering and product management.
Press Release
CEO Schmidt Should Go To Washington Under Oath
SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today asked the House Energy and Commerce Committee to hold hearings into Google’s Wi-Spying because a ranking employee of the Internet giant gave testimony that contradicted known facts about the company’s massive privacy invasion.
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“The White House deputy chief technology officer, Andrew McLaughlin, was formerly Google’s head of government affairs, and [Google CEO] Eric Schmidt was on a panel of economic advisors for President Obama’s transition team,” John Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Inside Google project, told the E-Commerce Times. “If you asked me if I was surprised that that type of clout and influence could pay off for Google in this case, I would say ‘no,'” Simpson continued. “Do I have proof that it did? Again, I would have to say ‘no.'”
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Leading the call for Congressional oversight is John M. Simpson, managing director of the non-profit advocacy group Consumer Watchdog. Simpson calls this two-page letter the FTC sent to Google on Wednesday “premature and wrong. “
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Saying they are satisfied with privacy reforms Google announced last week, U.S. regulators have closed their inquiry into Google’s collection of data from unsecured private Wi-Fi networks through its Street View cars, a decision that was blasted Wednesday by online privacy advocates.
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NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission is scolding Google Inc. without punishing the Internet search leader for collecting e-mails, passwords and other personal information transmitted over unsecured wireless networks. Consumer Watchdog, a group that has been among the most strident critics of Google’s so-called “Wi-Spy” incident, called FTC’s resolution “premature and wrong.” It also suggested that Google’s lobbyists may have swayed the outcome of the inquiry. The company has spent $3.9 million on lobbying activities so far this year and has met with the FTC on variety of topics, according to company disclosures.
Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA — The Federal Trade Commission’s two-page letter ending its probe of the Google Wi-Spy scandal is premature and wrong, Consumer Watchdog said today, and leaves the American public with no official full account of the Internet giant’s repeated invasions of consumer privacy.
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Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group, called the F.T.C.’s decision “premature and wrong. Once again, Google, with its myriad of government connections, gets a free pass,” John M. Simpson, director of the group’s Inside Google Project, said in a statement.
