Privacy

Privacy Groups Ask For Greater Oversight Of Pharma Ad Targeting

November 23, 2010  ·  Mark Reback

<p> A coalition of privacy groups and other advocates are asking the Federal Trade Commission to probe whether online health marketers engage in deceptive practices by tracking users across the Web in order to serve them targeted ads.</p>

State’s Stem Cell Agency Seeks More Time, Money

November 22, 2010  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <b>After six years, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has faced questions about leaders' pay and the lack of medical breakthroughs. But its chairman plans to ask voters for another $3 billion in bonds.</b></p>

Group Claims Contradiction In Google Official’s Testimony

November 11, 2010  ·  Mark Reback

<p> One of Google's most persistent critics called on the House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday to hold a hearing into the firm's Wi-Fi data collection controversy, citing a discrepancy in a Google official's testimony on the matter during a Senate hearing in June.</p>

FCC Picks Up Where FTC Left Off In Google Wi-Spy Case

November 11, 2010  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Two weeks after the Federal Trade Commission closed its investigation of online search giant Google's Street View mapping project without taking action, another government agency is picking up where the FTC left off. </p> <p> From <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2010/11/11/technology/fcc_google/">CNNMoney</a>:</p> <p> <em>The Federal Communications Commission is investigating whether Google broke the law by collecting personal information from Internet users while gathering data for its Street View mapping technology.</em></p>

Google Employee’s Misleading Testimony Prompts Consumer Watchdog To Call For Wi-Spy Hearing

November 11, 2010  ·  John M. Simpson

<p> SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today asked the House Energy and Commerce Committee to hold hearings into Google’s Wi-Spying because a ranking employee of the Internet giant gave testimony that contradicted known facts about the company’s massive privacy invasion.<br />  <br />

Consumer Group Demands Hearing On Google ‘Wi-Spy’

November 11, 2010  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Ardent Google critic Consumer Watchdog has called on Congress to hold hearings on a major privacy breach by the Internet search engine giant, and insists that CEO Eric Schmidt should come to Washington to testify.</p> <p> The group says Congress should get involved even though <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/128689-fcc-investigating-google-wi-spy-breach">the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is already investigating</a>. </p>

What does Rep. Boucher’s fall mean for Internet privacy and Google?

November 4, 2010  ·  John M. Simpson

<img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-1848" align="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/images_rick_boucher_251_0.jpg" style="border:2px; margin-left:10px;" width="230" height="273" /> <p> People who worry about online privacy and the intrusive practices of Internet companies like Google and Facebook are trying to figure out the impact of the election.  One victim of the Republican juggernaut was a key Internet policy player,<a href="http://www.boucher.house.gov/"> Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va</a>.</p>

Google needs Chief Privacy Officer

November 1, 2010  ·  John M. Simpson

<p> Google can to take one simple step to show that it cares about consumers' privacy. The Internet giant simply needs to appoint a Chief Privacy Officer.</p> <p> Instead, in it's latest bit of PR spin Google as it tried to deal with the fallout from the Wi-Spy scandal, the company has muddied the water with an executive structure that virtually assures to confuse and will ultimately fail.</p>

Consumer Watchdog Praises State Attorneys General For Continuing Wi-Spy Probe

October 29, 2010  ·  John M. Simpson

<p> SANTA MONICA, CA — Consumer Watchdog today praised a coalition of state attorneys general led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal for continuing an investigation into Google’s Wi-Spying scandal in the wake of the Federal Trade Commission halting its probe earlier this week.<br /> <br /> In announcing the state plans Blumenthal said:<br /> <br />

Critics Call For Congressional Hearings On Google’s Wi-Fi Data Harvesting

October 28, 2010  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Critics are calling for Congressional hearings into why the Federal Trade Commission yesterday <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2010/10/federal-trade-commission-ends-google-privacy-inquiry/1?loc=interstitialskip">dropped its inquiry</a> into the search giant's global Wi-Fi eavesdropping campaign, even as <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/googles-wi-fi-snooping-earns-it-class-action-lawsuit-629">lawsuits</a> and <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101027/ap_on_hi_te/eu_italy_google">government probes</a> pick up steam in the U.S.

FTC Wrong To End Google Probe — Americans Entitled To Full Account Of Abuses

October 27, 2010  ·  John M. Simpson

<p> SANTA MONICA, CA -- The Federal Trade Commission’s two-page letter ending its probe of the Google Wi-Spy scandal is premature and wrong, Consumer Watchdog said today, and leaves the American public with no official full account of the Internet giant’s repeated invasions of consumer privacy.</p> <p> The FTC’s failure to act makes it even more important for Congress to hold hearings on Google’s Wi-Spying, in which the company’s Street View cars gathered communications from private Wi-Fi networks in 30 countries around the word.</p>

US Regulators Scold Google for Taking E-mails

October 27, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<div id="hn-headline">NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission is scolding Google Inc. without punishing the Internet search leader for collecting e-mails, passwords and other personal information transmitted over unsecured wireless networks. Consumer Watchdog, a group that has been among the most strident critics of Google's so-called "Wi-Spy" incident, called FTC's resolution "premature and wrong." It also suggested that Google's lobbyists may have swayed the outcome of the inquiry.