Privacy

Watchdog Wants Google’s Head as Google’s Lobbying Spend Jumps 57%

April 21, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

There was a time a couple years ago when we pundits tracked Google’s lobbying spend by year. No longer, because that spend is growing at a fat clip. Consumer groups and privacy watchdogs suspicious of Google Creep — its growing size and extension on the Web  — are looking at Google’s moves in Washington, D.C., with the flinty enthusiasm of fire and brimstone preachers.

Consumer Group Calls for Antitrust Investigation of Google

April 21, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

The U.S. Department of Justice should launch a broad antitrust investigation into Google’s search and advertising practices and consider a wide array of penalties, including possibly breaking the company up, a consumer group said Wednesday. Consumer Watchdog, along with a mobile entrepreneur and two lawyers representing Google rivals, all called on the DOJ to initiate an antitrust investigation focusing on a number of issues, including Google’s marriage of search results to advertising and its book search service.

Google Boosts Federal Lobbying Spending In Q1

April 20, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> <strong>Spending Up 57 Percent Year-On-Year</strong><br /> <br /> Google spent $4.03 million lobbying the federal government last year, according to records on the Senate site, compared with Microsoft Corp's $6.72 million and Oracle Corp's $5.10 million. First-quarter figures from those companies were expected to be filed by the end of Tuesday. John Simpson, a consumer advocate with the group Consumer Watchdog, said the latest data shows the extent to which Google is increasing its lobbying efforts. Google has "gone from no presence in Washington to really now what's one of the biggest lobby shops around," Simpson said. </p>

Should Google Be Broken Up Into Several Companies?

April 20, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

A Santa Monica, Calif.-based consumer watchdog group called, er, “Consumer Watchdog” intends to ask the U.S. Justice Department tomorrow during a press conference to investigate and take antitrust action against Google. The action they’re calling for includes breaking up the company into “baby Googs.”

Poizner Asks Why Brown Remains Silent On Insurer

April 16, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

State Attorney General Jerry Brown won national attention for his move this week to investigate document-shredding involving Sarah Palin's scheduled speech at California State University Stanislaus. But the Democratic gubernatorial candidate's silence on allegations involving a California insurance giant that is also a generous political donor has raised questions about whether election-year politics may be in play. Consumer advocate Harvey Rosenfield, founder of Consumer Watchdog, agreed. "I don't know why the attorney general would have to wait to be asked, when there is blatant evidence of law-breaking by Mercury," he said.

WaMu revelations make Obama’s case for independent consumer regulator

April 14, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<!--StartFragment-->President Obama should use this week's revelations about the depth of existing bank regulators’ failure to crack down on a Washington Mutual business model built on predatory consumer lending to urge lawmakers to commit to an independent consumer financial regulator.

Recent Chamber Ad Raises Questions Over Election Laws

April 10, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Consumer Watchdog, a government watchdog group, will pursue its own complaint with the FPPC, calling the ad a "dangerous precedent." "If the FPPC doesn't crack down on this, corporations will continue playing semantics to avoid disclosure demanded of the system," said Doug Heller of Consumer Watchdog. "For so many people, the messenger is the message. People reasonably turn to messengers they trust, but if we can't authenticate the messengers, it becomes really unfair." </p>

CA Chamber Pulls TV Ad Attacking Brown — Chamber Says It Will Replace Ad Friday

April 9, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

The California Democratic Party and the Santa Monica-based group Consumer Watchdog complained Wednesday to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission. They said the commercial was not about issues, as the chamber claimed, but rather an attack ad against Brown, the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate. As such, they say it directly helped the Republican candidates and therefore had to follow stringent campaign-finance reporting rules.<br />

Issa Presses Web Chief On Personal E-Mail Use To Contact Former Co-Workers

April 8, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Still, the screenshot prompted Consumer Watchdog, at least, <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/90473-consumer-group-questioning-relationship-between-white-house-official-google">to question whether McLaughlin's job</a> is itself a conflict of interest; a concern it previously expressed shortly after his appointment. And news that McLaughlin had used Gmail, not his White House e-mail account, to make those contacts prompted Issa to question whether those messages had been appropriately archived, as required by the Presidential Records Act.

Jerry Brown Slams CalChamber “Cooked up” Attack Ads — And Pete Wilson

April 8, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Democratic gubernatorial candidate <a href="http://jerrybrown.org">Jerry Brown</a> slammed the <a href="http://calchamber.com">CalChamber's</a> attack ads targeting him Thursday, saying they're evidence that Chamber board member Pete Wilson -- the former governor who chairs Meg <a href="http://megwhitman.com">Whitman's</a> campaign -- "carries a real grudge, and he's very much in this battle."  Both Santa Monica-based <a href="https://consumerwatchdog.org">Consumer Watchdog</a> and the <a href="http://caldem.org">California Democratic Party</a> have filed complaints with the state's Fair Political Practices Commission charging that the effort is a violation of election laws because they say it represents a pure campaign attack against Brown, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate. </p> <p>   </p>

Groups Say Attack Ad Against Brown Violates Law

April 8, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

SACRAMENTO CA -- Two groups complained Wednesday to California's campaign watchdog agency about a television commercial funded by the California Chamber of Commerce that attacks Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown. The California Democratic Party and the Santa Monica-based group Consumer Watchdog complained Wednesday to the Fair Political Practices Commission, arguing that the ad violated California elections law. The groups say the ad, which was not paid for by the chamber's political action committee, is intended to defeat Brown and therefore should be subject to disclosure rules about who paid for it. They also say it's costing the chamber more than $1 million.

CalChamber’s Anti-Brown ‘Issue” Ad Draws FPPC Complaints

April 8, 2010  ·  Consumer Watchdog

The <a class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.sacbee.com/California+Chamber+of+Commerce/">California Chamber of Commerce's</a> new <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/2010/04/state-chamber-o.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"issue" ad </a> attacking Democratic gubernatorial candidate <strong><a class=" lingo_link" href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Jerry+Brown/">Jerry Brown's</a> </strong>record on spending and taxes has sparked ethics complaints from at least two groups who say the 30-second spot runs afoul of the state's election laws. The first <a href="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/resources_LTR_FPPC_CoC4710.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complaint</a>, filed with the Fair Political <a class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Practices+Commission/">Practices Commission</a> by <strong>Consumer Watchdog</strong>, claims that the "issue advocacy ad" constitutes "express advocacy against a candidate for office" and should be subject to independent expenditure disclosure rules, including identifying the donors behind the television buy.