Privacy

Home Invasion: Google, Amazon Patent Filings Reveal Digital Home Assistant Privacy Problems

December 22, 2017  ·  John M. Simpson

security camera. A particularly troubling patent application describes how Google could use video feeds from smart devices to determine users’ behaviors and characteristics, including “gender, age, fashion-taste, style, mood, known languages, preferred5 activities, and…

Consumer Watchdog Asks FTC to Act Against Google Home, Amazon Echo Digital Assistants for Deception, COPPA Violation

December 19, 2017  ·  John M. Simpson

SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and take action against Google and Amazon for deceptively marketing...

Consumer Watchdog, Anti-Trust Experts Warn of Higher Prices From Disney-Fox Merger

December 15, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

Consumers can expect to pay more for streaming subscriptions if regulators give the greenlight to the proposed $52.4-billion merger of Disney and Fox, a consumer...

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...

Consumer Watchdog Reveals Surveillance Capabilities of Digital Assistants

December 14, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

Consumer Watchdog warns consumers not to let Amazon and Google into your home. Patent applications reveal plans to record confidential conversations for advertising purposes.

Home Assistant Adopter Beware: Google, Amazon Digital Assistant Patents Reveal Plans for Mass Snooping

December 13, 2017  ·  John M. Simpson

SANTA MONICA, CA – Internet giants Amazon and Google are slashing prices and offering supposed deals on their “digital assistants” this holiday season, but a...

Google Home Invasion

December 12, 2017  ·  John Ennis

Are you listening? Google is. Consumer Watchdog’s new report shows how digital home assistants like Google Home and Amazon Echo are continuously listening to document...

Consumer Watchdog Joins International Call for Rental Car Firms to Protect Driver Data Privacy

December 6, 2017  ·  John M. Simpson

SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today joined Privacy International and other public interest groups in an international call for car rental companies to protect...

California DMV Heeds Consumer Watchdog Warning on Proposed Robot Car Liability Language

December 1, 2017  ·  John M. Simpson

SANTA MONICA, CA. – The California Department of Motor Vehicles is heeding a warning from Consumer Watchdog and has just dropped language suggested by General...