Tag Archive | "Google Chat"
Poking At Google’s New Privacy Dashboard
... Dashboard doesn't really give users any clearer insights into what the company is doing with all of the data it collects. John Simpson, a consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog, said if Google really wants people to use Dashboard, the company should make it easier to find, noting that there are few links to the tool from the landing pages of any Google properties. Simpson said Google also should make it easier for users to blow away stored search and activity data across multiple Google properties with a single click. "Google is maximizing the PR value of this feature in response to critics who have demanded online privacy guarantees," Simpson said in a written statement. "They are letting a little light shine into the black box that is Google, but to claim that this is transparency is absurd."
Continue reading...Google Offers Users A Peek At Stored Data
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Google, which has been criticized frequently for amassing large amounts of data about people, is giving users an easy way to find out what information it stores in their accounts. John Simpson, of Consumer Watchdog, a frequent critic of Google, said Dashboard gave users the appearance of control over privacy but did not really prevent Google from tracking users across the Web. “What the Dashboard does is list all the information linked directly to your name, but what it doesn’t do is let you know and control the data directly tied to your computer’s IP address, which is Google’s black box and data mine, Mr. Simpson said in a press release. “Google isn’t truly protecting privacy until it lets you control that information.”
Continue reading...FTC Says Google, Apple Probe Still On As Spotlight Shifts
Monday, August 3, 2009
Consumer Watchdog Wants Genentech Exec To Quit Google Or Apple Board Consumer Watchdog, formerly known as the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, called on former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson to pick one board or the other. ?It took Eric Schmidt far too long to realize that the two roles are incompatible. That's not surprising considering the clubby atmosphere of Silicon Valley,? said John M. Simpson, a Consumer Watchdog consumer advocate, in a written statement. ?Nonetheless, we're glad Schmidt finally did the right thing. We call on Levinson to act responsibly and choose one company or the other.?
Continue reading...Long Term, The Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Could Benefit Consumers
Friday, July 31, 2009
John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog raised concerns about how users' personal data is collected, stored and shared. He's worried about "up-until-now separate databases being merged and used in ways that haven't been made explicit." Simpson hopes to see Microsoft and Yahoo come up with a data retention policy that expunges personal information in about a month and says that, by default, they shouldn't collect behavioral information unless consumers opt-in.
Continue reading...Google Openness Is A Closed Door — Open Source Versus An Open Mind
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
When Google meets with Congressional staffers, hoping to convince US lawmakers that it's nothing but good for the world, the web giant likes to say that it believes in openness. "Open is better than closed, "the company says. Open "enhances competition" and "encourages innovation." But if you ask the company to discuss its openness, it's not too open about it. Late last week, the consumer watchdog known only as Consumer Watchdog uncovered the canned pitch that Google recently launched at Capitol Hill in an effort to re-spin itself.
Continue reading...Google Book Deal Targeted by Justice Department
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Google has reportedly been questioned by the U.S. Justice Department over whether its plans to digitize the world’s books into an online database represents a potential antitrust violation. An advocate for Consumer Watchdog, John M. Simpson, wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking for government intervention in Google’s settlement with the Author’s Guild and the Association of American Publishers, arguing that it should have been reviewed to see if it met "the interests of consumers."
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Friday, November 6, 2009
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