Archive | Tag: lobbying

News Clipping

Online advertisers and privacy advocates generally agree that Do Not Track options should be available on Web browsers. However, there’s much debate about whether DNT should be opt-in or opt-out. “The privacy-friendly thing is to have DNT on by default,” said Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson. But advertisers say turning on DNT by default would essentially deprive consumers of choice.

Continue reading…

News Clipping

Consumer Watchdog, which has long dogged Google on its data gathering practices, asked the committee to include language restricting the operators of the robotic cars to only gathering data that is necessary to run the car. The bill’s analysis said it was difficult to define what data is necessary to run the car, but called for companies to disclose all information gathered.

Continue reading…

Press Release

Group Plans To Ask Google Executives What They Knew About Wi-Spy

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – Consumer Watchdog today sent its “Google Track Team” comprised of mimes dressed in white track suits to follow shareholders as they gathered for the company’s annual meeting in a bid to focus attention on the Internet giant’s online tracking activity.

Continue reading…

Press Release

Washington, DC – In an opinion piece published in POLITICO today, Consumer Watchdog’s Jamie Court and John M. Simpson compare the treatment of News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch – who was called before Parliament in Britain to answer for hacking into the private phone records of families – and the kid glove treatment Google CEO Larry Page has received in America after a much larger privacy breach in which the new media giant collected personal information from millions of Wi-Fi networks around the world.

Continue reading…

News Clipping

The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog is raising concerns about Google’s altruistic motives when it comes to autonomous vehicles. The group sees The Big G’s efforts less as a way to reduce crashes and save lives, and more as a ploy to mine and monetize even more personal data. And it wants to block a bill that would clear the way for Google’s self-driving cars to legally cruise California roads unless privacy protections are in place.

Continue reading…

News Clipping

In California, the state is close to approving allowing the automated cars on the road. (And in Spain, a convoy of them recently took to the highway.) But some people in California are raising privacy concerns. Google, of course, is known for tracking where its users go on the web and using that information to make money.

Continue reading…

News Clipping

A privacy group wants to put the brakes on Google’s driverless cars, demanding that they shouldn’t be allowed on the road until privacy legislation has been put into place. Consumer Watchdog, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group, is demanding that the technology is incorporated into a bill, SB 1289, which would see proper legislation around this technology, put into place to protect people.

Continue reading…