Privacy

Group: Consumers Not Considered In Google Book Search Settlement

April 7, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Advocacy group Consumer Watchdog has joined the ranks of organizations expressing concern about the proposed Google Book Search settlement. The group criticizes the settlement on the grounds that it would give Google "an effective monopoly over digitized books" and is asking the Department of Justice to intervene.

Wall Street Journal, AP Take Aim At Google

April 7, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Traditional media is once again rattling sabers in the direction of Google and other sites that aggregate the news. There's tough talk coming from managers at The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press that include threats of legal challenges and even name calling. Google's plan to scan orphan books and preserve them in a database is also being challenged. Google has an agreement with the The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers to scan the books, but a group called Consumer Watchdog says the agreement is anticompetitive and has called on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to intervene.

Consumer Group Protests Google Settlement

April 6, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> With May 5 the deadline for filing objections to Google’s settlement with the AAP and the Authors Guild, the consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog has sent a letter to the Justice Department asking the department to delay the settlement, which still needs court approval. The letter cites two objections to the agreement: a so-called “most favored nation” clause and the mechanism to deal with orphan works. The group maintains that because the settlement was negotiated between Google and the AAP/authors, there was no one representing the public interest in what Consumer Watchdog calls an agreement that will transform publishing. </p>

Academics, Citing Public Interest, Plan To Intervene in Google Book Search Settlement

April 6, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

While much mainstream news coverage of the pending Google Book Search settlement has focused on the potential boon to researchers, concerns raised by librarians and consumers have begun to hit critical mass. One sign was a front-page article in the April 4 <em>New York Times</em>, headlined <a href="http://ttp//www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/technology/internet/04books.html">Google’s Plan for Out-of-Print Books Is Challenged</a>, which noted that two sets of academics plan to intervene in the settlement. Consumer Watchdog, a public interest group in Southern California, also has asked the Justice Department to intervene in the case to “serve the public interest,” Helft noted.

Google Book Scans Lead to Department of Justice Call

April 6, 2009  ·  John M. Simpson

<p> Google's recent and far-flung attempt to digitize the world's "orphan" books, or out-of-print tomes that remain under copyright but whose rights-holders cannot be found, may soon hit a roadblock in the form of the U.S. Department of Justice, at least if a consumer group gets its wish. John Simpson, a consumer advocate for Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking the government to intervene in Google's recent settlement with The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP). </p>

It’s Not Just Microsoft That’s Balking At Google’s Book Plans

April 4, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Earlier this week, Google’s public relations team sent around to reporters a story from Wired suggesting that <a href="http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/03/whos-messing-wi.html">Microsoft was behind</a> the opposition to its sweeping settlement with book publishers and authors over its book scanning project. I covered a focal point of the opposition to the agreement, the concerns over Google’s virtually exclusive license to millions of so-called orphan books, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/technology/internet/04books.html">in Saturday’s Times</a>. And in a letter sent last week, Consumer Watchdog, a public interest group in Southern California, has asked the Justice Department to intervene in the case to “bring about changes that will truly serve the public interest.”  </p>

Novocell Announces Patent On Insulin-Producing Stem-Cell Technique

March 31, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Novocell, a small, privately held San Diego company, may have found new ways to make money from its technique for coaxing human embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing pancreatic cells. Scientists have complained that the embryonic stem cell patent hinders research. And the patent has been challenged by the California nonprofit Consumer Watchdog and several scientists for being too broad. But the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has upheld the validity of that patent.

Wagoner Out, Bank CEOs Safe – Huh?!

March 30, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<strong>Apparently, if you're the CEO of an auto firm, you may have to sacrifice yourself to get another bailout. But many bank CEOs have held onto their jobs.<br /> </strong>"There seems to be this belief about how you need to treat financial executives with kid gloves because they're needed to dig us out of this mess," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, consumer advocacy group. "The signal that has been sent to Wall Street is that their jobs are not on the line," he added. "There seems to be a double standard between manufacturing in the heartland and the cozy club room that is Wall Street."

More trouble on Google’s cloud

March 26, 2009  ·  John M. Simpson

A security consultant has found more problems with Google Docs, a so called "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cloud computing</a>" application.<br/> <br/> The revelation by ...

Appeals court backs patent reform

March 23, 2009  ·  John M. Simpson

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of new <a href="http://www.uspto.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Patent and Trademark Office</a> regulations that would curtail abusive behavior by patent applicants and improve patent quality.

Obama on Tonight Show hints at tomorrow’s regulatory agenda

March 20, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

<p> The president talked and joked easily with America <a href="http://www.nbc.com/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/">from Jay Leno's couch last night</a>, as close to a fire side chat as it gets in these times. Leno is no Jon Stewart but Obama did offer some clues as to where his financial regulatory approach is going.  </p>

The state of electronic medical record privacy

March 18, 2009  ·  Jamie Court

<p> A newspaper reporter just called to ask about the state of privacy under electronic medical records, which will now be spreading thanks to $20 billion in the federal economic stimulus plan.  Electronic medical records can help avoid medical mistakes, like those <a href="http://www.thequaidfoundation.org/">suffered by Dennis Quaid's newborn twins</a>, but the privacy protections under the stimulus bill need to improve. </p>