Blog Post
I spent all afternoon Monday waiting at the LA City Council Budget Committee to give the Council members my two minutes on why Google’s proposal to put the City’s computing into its cloud could be dangerous. In a nutshell: Security,…
Press Release
Group Also Releases 3rd Round Of Annotated Google Documents In ‘Charmwatch’ Campaign
SANTA MONICA, CA — Consumer Watchdog today slammed Google for its
apparent hypocrisy in marketing its new "cloud computing" products,
blandly assuring customers that their data is secure on Google Internet
servers but at the same time warning shareholders of the security risks
posed by swift expansion of its commercial online business. The
nonpartisan, nonprofit group sent a letter to a Los Angeles City
Councilman showing that Google says one thing when trying to sell its
products, but something else in federally required filings aimed at
shareholders. Consumer Watchdog also released another round of
annotated Google P.R. documents in its Google “Charmwatch” campaign.
News Clipping
In recent months, two heavily detailed, annotated versions of
confidential Google slide presentations — one dealing with competition
issues, the other with behavioral targeting — have been published by a
Santa Monica–based group called Consumer Watchdog. The annotations are
highly critical of Google and seek to rebut the search giant’s
arguments.
Blog Post
L.A. City council is wrestling with a proposal to shift the city’s 30,000 email users and other computer applications to a system provided by Google. Anytime a deal like this is under consideration, it’s worth checking the money trail. I examined records kept by the Los Angeles Ethics Commission to see who paid what to whom.
News Clipping
Microsoft and Yahoo clearly are bracing for regulatory scrutiny. The news release emphasized that the two companies will "continue to compete vigorously" in other areas, including e-mail, instant messaging and display advertising. It also stressed that the agreement restricts the sharing of search and other data.
Consumer Watchdog in Washington, D.C., called on the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to probe the deal for potential antitrust violations and privacy concerns.
Blog Post
What do you do if you’re a gargantuan Internet company that’s come under increased scrutiny, despite your "Don’t-be-evil" mantra? Send in the…
Blog Post
Google probably thought it was being subtle and sly. Just after
Consumer Watchdog obtained and released Google’s new "confidential"
lobbying document, Google posted the same document, stripped of its "confidential" and "proprietary" labels, as an example of its public transparency.
Press Release
Consumer Watchdog Releases Satirical Annotated Version, Says Cyber-Spying Should Raise Lawmaker Alarms Over Internet Giant’s New ‘Net-based Operating System
News Clipping
Eyes are rolling, especially in reaction to the idea that Google is a
relatively small player in a giant market. “They describe where they
are in a market under a kind of a fairy-tale spun gloss that doesn’t
reflect their dominance of key sectors,” said Jeff Chester, executive
director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “Google search is an
absolute must-have for every marketer in the world.”
News Clipping
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Google continued to lay the groundwork Wednesday for
an antitrust defense in the event that the federal government decides
to take a formal look at its core business.
Inside a conference room in Google’s San Francisco office,
executives ran through essentially the same presentation leaked last
month by the consumer activist group Consumer Watchdog,
focusing most of their efforts on trying to paint a picture of Google
as just one part of a large Internet ecosystem, as opposed to a
dominant search giant.
