Blog Post
Google co-founder Larry Page’s recent purchase of an 187-foot, $45 million yacht is a classic case of “conspicuous consumption.” The term, coined by economist Thorstein Veblen, refers to “the waste of money and/or resources by people to display a higher status than others.”
Blog Post
Three rants about the decline for Google search quality highlight a phenomenon the better minds of Mountain View can’t afford to ignore, says culture blogger Anil Dash. Or can they?
News Clipping
John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog, who has criticized McLaughlin’s appointment from the start, wrote in a blog post: “It’s good he’s gone.”
News Clipping
If Washington fails to act, California should create its own “do not track me” system through the Legislature or the ballot box. The state that pioneered Internet commerce can also lead the way in ensuring that it does not run roughshod over one of our fundamental rights.
News Clipping
“We’re interested in the monopolistic power that Google has, how they are using it and whether it has disadvantaged consumers,” said John Simpson, a director at Consumer Watchdog.
News Clipping
That answer isn’t satisfactory for privacy pundits such as Consumer Watchdog’s John M. Simpson. “Google’s refusal to give data gathered by its Street View cars from private WiFi networks to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal underscores the need for a Congressional hearing,” Simpson said. “What is Google hiding?
News Clipping
Reback says it’s no secret that Microsoft was a member of the Open Book Alliance, a group formed to challenge Google over book authors’ rights. Other members of that alliance included Amazon, Yahoo, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, the Internet Archive, the National Writers Union, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Small Press Distribution and the Special Libraries Association.
News Clipping
Jamie Court, chief spokesman John Simpson, Washington coordinator Carmen Balber, and social-media strategist Josh Nuni are planning the Future of Online Consumer Protections conference, which was taking place Wednesday amid the Federal Trade Commission’s release of a report that threw the government’s weight behind a “Do Not Track” list for the Internet: a controversial sentiment among companies that make their money advertising on the Web. They’ve been handed an early Christmas present courtesy of the European Commission, which chose to announce its decision to formally investigate Google on the eve of Consumer Watchdog’s conference as Simpson almost gleefully fields calls from reporters asking for reaction to the investigation.
News Clipping
At a Consumer Watchdog event Wednesday, the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection proposed a new “Do Not Track” tool to curb privacy concerns over behaviorial advertising. The tool would be akin to the “Do Not Call” registry created in the early aughts which enabled the public to block the surging (and annoying) amount of telemarketers, Politico reports [1]. “Do Not Track” would work within browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox, but would require an act of Congress to pass.
Press Release
WASHINGTON DC — The Federal Trade Commission repeated its support today for a “Do Not Track Me” mechanism to protect consumer online privacy and Consumer Watchdog called on Congress to pass legislation necessary to implement the safeguard.
