Press Release
SANTA MONICA, CA — Citing new information about Google’s classified government contracts and the Internet giant’s admitted Wi-Spying activity, Consumer Watchdog today said it is more imperative than ever for the Energy and Commerce Committee to conduct hearings into possible privacy violations by Google.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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A US consumer site claimed that Google Street View may well have cast its beady Orwellian eye over US politicians’ wi-fi networks. Consumer Watchdog said that if that happened, US national security data could have been compromised. It said that Representative Jane Harman, who chairs the Intelligence Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee “has at least one wireless network in her Washington DC home that could have been breached by Google.”
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Google has been accused of drive-by spying on members of Congress, including those involved with homeland security, by uploading e-mail or Website viewing information while mapping for its Google Street View. According to a government watchdog group several members of Congress have unsecured wireless networks, including Rep. Jane Harman, D-CA, who heads the intelligence subcommittee for the House Homeland Security committee, and whose home was discovered to house unsecured networks named “harmanmbr” and “harmantheater.”
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Meanwhile, Consumer Watchdog said July 8 that Google’s WiSpy snooping could have sucked up and recorded communications from members of Congress. The consumer advocacy group said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., chair of the Intelligence Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee, has at least one wireless network in her Washington, D.C., home that could have been breached by Google.
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Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based advocacy group that has been a sharp critic of Google’s privacy practices in the past, said Thursday that the search giant may have breached the networks while its vehicles were collecting wireless SSID information for the company’s Street View service.
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Google’s popular Street View project may have collected personal information of members of Congress, including some involved in national security issues. The claim was made by leading advocacy group, Consumer Watchdog which wants Congress to hold hearings into what data Google’s Street View possesses.
