Energy

Google Home, Amazon Echo usher in an Orwellian future, consumer group warns

December 15, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

Amazon and Google have been heavily promoting their digital “assistants,” Google Home and Amazon Echo as ideal holiday presents and time-savers for busy families. Both...

How Google and Amazon are ‘spying’ on you

December 15, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

You would be forgiven for thinking that your private conversations were just that, but two leading voice assistants are listening to everything you say, a...

Google and Amazon really DO want to spy on you: Patent reveals future versions of their voice assistants will record your conversations to sell you products

December 15, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

You would be forgiven for thinking that your private conversations were just that, but two leading voice assistants are listening to everything you say, a...

Driverless cars won’t need backup drivers in California next year

December 15, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

A white Toyota Highlander rigged with cameras and sensors winds through San Francisco’s Financial District. It eases into an intersection, checks for pedestrians and allows oncoming...

Gov. Brown Should Stop Protecting the Oil Industry

December 12, 2017  ·  Liza Tucker

Governor Jerry Brown sells himself as one of the world’s foremost climate change warriors. But as long as he protects the oil industry, California will...

DWP Rubberstamps $242 Million Tuesday Takeaway from Ratepayers In Violation Of Their Rights

November 28, 2017  ·  Liza Tucker

Santa Monica, CA — Today’s vote by the Board of Water and Power Commissioners for LADWP to transfer $242 million in ratepayer money to the...

Consumer Watchdog Decries LADWP Transfer Of $242 Million From Ratepayers To City Budget Without Voter Approval

November 27, 2017  ·  Jamie Court

Santa Monica, CA — The Board of Water and Power Commissioners for LADWP has put on its agenda a Tuesday vote to transfer nearly $242...

Keystone Leak Shows Trump Is Keystone Cop For Heartland

November 21, 2017  ·  Jamie Court

When President Trump moved to expand the Keystone pipeline to the Gulf, we warned him that it wasn’t just a risk to the land, but the...

California may limit liability of self-driving carmakers

November 16, 2017  ·  Consumer Watchdog

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California regulators are embracing a General Motors recommendation that would help makers of self-driving cars avoid paying for accidents and other...

CA Cap-And-Trade Program Isn’t Working

November 13, 2017  ·  Liza Tucker

Santa Monica, CA — As protestors heckled Governor Jerry Brown during his tour abroad for failing to leave oil and gas in the ground, new...

Germany Could Teach Jerry Brown How To Be Greener, Consumer Watchdog Says

November 7, 2017  ·  Liza Tucker

Los Angeles, CA — As California’s Governor traverses the world urging it to wake up to climate change, California’s leading consumer group called on Brown...

AT&T Tops Q3 Lobbying Spend – Comcast’s spending Up, Charter’s Down

October 23, 2017  ·  Mark Reback

AT&T barely outspent Google to be the third quarter’s top telecom/tech spender on lobbying, shelling out $4.13 million, up 8% from Q3 2016, according to Consumer Watchdog’s...