Privacy

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  ·  Consumer Watchdog

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  ·  Consumer Watchdog

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  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<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  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<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>

How to stop the AIG bonuses

March 16, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

President Obama has told Treasury Secretary Geithner to "pursue every legal avenue" to block $165 million in bonuses to American International Group executives. Come on, this isn't rocket science, it's derivative trading. Here's a simple way to get the job done without filing a lawsuit.

Dinners, Trips, Concerts Are Perks Of The Capitol

March 15, 2009  ·  Consumer Watchdog

No elected official should be allowed to accept gifts of any kind from lobbyists, interest groups, trade groups, corporations or labor unions, because there is no public purpose to them, said Doug Heller, executive director with Consumer Watchdog. "Gifts are insidious because they're pervasive and subtle," Heller said. "When politicians are willing to accept gifts, they start to tread on the muck and that's when things get dirty." It's illegal to trade gifts for legislative action, but the "dirty gray area," Heller said, is how much that gift - and the relationship that's built through acts of friendship - affects a lawmaker's decisions even when there's no direct quid pro quo.