News Clipping
Internet service providers cite e-mails between onetime Google executive Andrew McLaughlin, who now works for the White House, and his former colleagues as the FCC prepares to rewrite the rules governing broadband. John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog said the e-mails suggested that Google, an Internet behemoth with $23.7 billion in annual revenue, had too cozy of a relationship with the White House.
News Clipping
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.
Blog Post
As the Obama administration pushes ahead with plans to adopt cloud computing, Congress is pushing back with questions. Google is a leading proponent of cloud computing, where most applications and data are on remote servers and accessed from a PC via the Internet.
News Clipping
John Simpson, a researcher for the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog who was the first to raise questions about McLaughlin’s appointment to the White House, said Google’s bumbling intellectual persona in Washington is just an act.
Press Release
The Federal Trade Commission’s decision allowing the $750 million deal for Google to buy mobile advertising company AdMob is anticompetitive and bad for consumers, Consumer Watchdog said today.
News Clipping
Consumer Watchdog and Center for Digital Democracy were concerned more about the impact the deal would have on consumers’ ability to protect their privacy than the possible antitrust implications of the acquisition.
Press Release
Consumer Watchdog today formally launched its new Website, Inside Google, to focus attention on the company’s activities and hold Google accountable for its actions. The sites’ URL is http://insidegoogle.com.
News Clipping
Those numbers might have gone unnoticed if not for a handful of critics who fear Google is becoming too dominant in its markets and is seeking to become too influential in Washington, D.C. Perhaps chief among those critics is John Simpson, a consumer advocate at the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog. Simpson says he would like to see the Justice Department launch a broad antitrust investigation of Google.
News Clipping
Privacy advocates argue that the bill’s exemption for “operational” collection of data–allowing those practices to take place under an “opt-out” rule–gives advertisers far too much leeway. “This bill really adopts an archaic and bankrupt ‘notice and consent’ regime that we all know doesn’t’ work,” says John Simpson, head of the Google Privacy and Accountability project at Consumer Watchdog.
News Clipping
Privacy advocates panned the bill during a conference call this afternoon, suggesting its lack of opt-out requirements maintain the status quo. “This bill really adopts and endorses an archaic, bankrupt notice and consent regimen that we know does not work,” said a representative of ConsumerWatchdog.org.
