News Clipping
Google’s popular Street View project may have collected personal information of members of Congress, including some involved in national security issues. The claim was made by leading advocacy group, Consumer Watchdog which wants Congress to hold hearings into what data Google’s Street View possesses.
News Clipping
Google’s horrendous breach of privacy with its StreetView data-collection gaffe may at least have one beneficial consequence: making WiFi users think more about security. Consumer Watchdog, which has emerged as one of the main anti-Google agitators, decided to follow in the tracks of the StreetView cars – literally. It sent out its own vehicle to “sniff” the WiFi networks of certain members of the US Congress whose homes have been photographed by the Google service.
News Clipping
COULD GOOGLE SPY-FI SNIFF OUT LAWMAKERS? Maybe, stresses Consumer Watchdog, a longtime, vocal Google critic. The group plans to make the case at a press conference on Thursday that Google’s Street View team not only intercepted unsuspecting Web users’ data transmitted over unsecured private networks, but is capable of doing the same with lawmakers’ sensitive information as well.
Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Google’s WiSpy snooping could have sucked up and recorded communications from members of Congress, some of whom are involved in national security issues, an investigation by Consumer Watchdog’s InsideGoogle.com has found.
Blog Post
When Google executive and search guru Amit Singhal calls the Internet search giant “the biggest kingmaker on this Earth,” he was more egotistical than wrong. He also highlighted why people find the company’s egotism disturbing.
Blog Post
Attorneys general across the United States are responding to Consumer Watchdog’s call to investigate Google’s WiSpy debacle in which the company used its Street View vehicles to snoop on private WiFi networks for three years.
News Clipping
Some consumer advocates said the problem is that Google did not seem more open with what happened and why. “As this has unfolded we learn more,” said John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog, which has criticized Google in the past. “I would like to see Google come clean about what they gathered.”
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“The problem is that the bill relies too much on the idea of ‘notice and consent,’ which really hasn’t worked,” said John M. Simpson, a consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog, Washington. “It also pre-empts stronger state laws and does not allow private action suits. These provisions are extremely unfriendly for consumers.
News Clipping
Just last week, Consumer Watchdog released a report claiming Google abuses its dominance of search to steer users to its other products. The revelation that the Google Street View team in Europe had “accidentally” collected large amounts of personal user data through Wi-Fi connections certainly hasn’t helped.
Blog Post
Every wonder how much information Google has gathered? Scott Cleland, publisher of the Website GoogleMonitor.com, has pulled together a snappy one-page graphic, “Google’s ‘Total Information Awareness’ Power,” that answers the question.
