Inside Google

Commerce Online Privacy Report Gets Mixed Grades

Brian Prince

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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Web Companies Urged by U.S. to Cooperate on Privacy

Sara Forden

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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Commerce Department Privacy Report Leaves Consumers In The Cold, Recommendations Favor Current Industry Practices, Consumer Watchdog Says

John M. Simpson

WASHINGTON, DC — The Commerce Department’s “Green Paper” about online privacy is an industry friendly document that would perpetuate current failed practices that give companies, not consumers, control of consumer data, Consumer Watchdog said today.

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Do Not Track Could Revolutionize Online Ad Industry

Byron Acohido

Privacy advocates praised the move, saying that tracking has gotten out of hand. "Consumers have a right to know what information is gathered about them, how it is used and whether it is gathered at all," says John M. Simpson, spokesman for the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.

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Connecticut Attorney General Demands Google’s Street View Data

Mike Swift

"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 AG demands Wi-Spy data

John M. Simpson