Press Release
Brief Argues Books Settlement Continues Steal From Absent Class Members, Remains Anti-Competitive
WASHINGTON, DC — Consumer Watchdog today filed a brief urging a
federal court to reject the revised Google Books settlement because it
is remains anticompetitive and violates both U.S. and international
law.
News Clipping
WASHINGTON D.C. – Two advocacy groups asked U.S. antitrust regulators
on Monday to block Google’s purchase of AdMob, a provider of
advertising services for mobile phones, on antitrust grounds and to
address privacy issues raised by the deal. Consumer Watchdog, a consumer advocacy organization, and the Center for
Digital Democracy, an advocate of open access to the Internet, said in
a letter to the Federal Trade Commission that the proposed deal would
"substantially lessen competition in the increasingly important mobile
advertising market."
News Clipping
NEW YORK – A federal judge has rejected Amazon.com Inc’s request that he withdraw preliminary approval of a settlement between Google Inc and groups of authors and publishers to digitize millions of books. Critics of the deal have been a varied group that includes Amazon,
Yahoo, Microsoft, the National Writers Union, Consumer Watchdog and
singer Arlo Guthrie.
News Clipping
Google Inc.’s settlement with authors and publishers over the digital
scanning of books got a preliminary approval from a federal judge last
week, but the controversy may be far from over. In fact, legal experts and industry observers who have been closely
following the case believe the fight over Google’s ambitious
book-scanning efforts is just starting all over again.
News Clipping
The revised Google Books settlement agreement may quiet international opponents, but it still gives Google a monopoly on commercializing out-of-print books where the copyrights are unclaimed and fails to protect consumer privacy, opponents said on Monday. Also troubling to critics is the fact that the revised settlement circumvents traditional copyright provisions by allowing Google to digitize orphan works without first getting rights holder permission, while any Google competitors are blocked from doing so barring legislation granting them licensing rights. “For the millions of volumes of orphan books that Google has already scanned in, they can offer those without risk of anyone coming forward and suing them for infringement,” said John Simpson, a consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog.
News Clipping
Top industry executives piled into Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters over the weekend to hear California’s Barbara Boxer, New Mexico’s Jeff Bingaman and other Democratic senators discuss some of the most pressing policy issues on Capitol Hill. Consumer Watchdog urged the seven Democratic senators on the agenda for
the weekend’s Google event to boycott it, since it created the
appearance of "pay-to-play politics when so many issues of concern to
Google and the rest of the Silicon Valley technology community are on
the table."
News Clipping
Google and US authors and publishers submitted a revised settlement to a US judge Friday seeking approval of an agreement that would clear the way for millions of books to be sold online. Rival technology companies, privacy advocates, consumer watchdog groups
and the French and German governments are among those who filed
objections to the original settlement with the US District Court in New
York hearing the case.
News Clipping
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Google and the
Authors Guild filed a new version of a deal to create a massive
online library on Friday in hopes of answering antitrust and
copyright concerns in the United States and overseas. Critics of the deal have been a varied group that includes
Yahoo, Amazon, Microsoft, the
National Writers Union, Consumer Watchdog and singer Arlo
Guthrie.
Blog Post
Both the Democratic and Republican Senate campaign committees are holding big fundraisers — the Democrats today at Google headquarters and the Republicans on Monday and Tuesday at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, DC. Consumer Watchdog objected to the Democratic event.
News Clipping
A Democratic Party-sponsored "national innovation conference" to
examine key policy and technology issues at Google’s headquarters
beginning today has critics charging that the $5,000-and-up ticket
prices limit access to the event to Silicon Valley high rollers and
raise the specter of "pay to play" politics. Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica likened the event to Republicans holding an energy conference at an oil company headquarters. The consumer rights group urged California Sens. Barbara Boxer and
Dianne Feinstein and four other senators to boycott the fundraiser
sponsored by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
