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Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson said that Stearns’s effort “shows that protecting online privacy is a bipartisan issue that resonates on both sides of the aisle. Privacy may be one of the areas where Congress can get something done this session.”
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John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog, who has criticized McLaughlin’s appointment from the start, wrote in a blog post: “It’s good he’s gone.”
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If Washington fails to act, California should create its own “do not track me” system through the Legislature or the ballot box. The state that pioneered Internet commerce can also lead the way in ensuring that it does not run roughshod over one of our fundamental rights.
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“We’re interested in the monopolistic power that Google has, how they are using it and whether it has disadvantaged consumers,” said John Simpson, a director at Consumer Watchdog.
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That answer isn’t satisfactory for privacy pundits such as Consumer Watchdog’s John M. Simpson. “Google’s refusal to give data gathered by its Street View cars from private WiFi networks to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal underscores the need for a Congressional hearing,” Simpson said. “What is Google hiding?
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The Commerce Department paper calls for an online privacy bill of rights and codes of conduct for Internet companies, with enforcement by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. But several privacy groups questioned whether the codes of conduct would be effective because of the paper’s suggestion that affected companies help write them. The policy recommendations in the report are an “early Christmas gift to the data collection industry,” said John Simpson, consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog.
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John Simpson, consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog, said the report starts off on the wrong foot with its very title – ‘Commercial Data Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy: A Dynamic Policy Framework.’ “They talk about commercial data privacy,” Simpson said. “What we should be talking about is consumers’ data and their right to privacy, not a business commodity. This is all about easing things for businesses. It’s in some sense I think an early Christmas gift to the data collection industry from the Obama administration.”
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Consumer groups including Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Digital Democracy, both based in Washington, have raised concerns about how Internet marketing companies compile personal information to target online users with advertising. The FTC said in a privacy report released Dec. 1 that data collection on the Web is sometimes done “in an irresponsible or even reckless manner.”
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“Connecticut sounds very serious about doing something, doing something more than just a slap on the wrist,” said John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group that has asked for congressional hearings on the issue. Blumenthal “is going to be a junior senator, but he may carry some of this with him to Washington. Who knows, he might be the guy who gets some kind of a hearing” in Congress.
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Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is leading a multi-state probe into Google’s Wi-Spying activity is demanding the Internet giant turn over the data that its Street View cars improperly gathered from wireless networks in the state.
