Privacy

Consumer Watchdog Calls on U.S. Antitrust Authorities to Act Against Google’s Anti-Competitive Practices After European Commission Hits Internet Giant with Record $2.7 Billion Antitrust Fine

June 27, 2017  ·  John M. Simpson

SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today called on U.S. antitrust regulators to act against Google’s anti-competitive practices in the wake of the European Commission’s...

Consumer Watchdog Calls on Congress to Ensure Safety Standards for Robot Cars

June 26, 2017  ·  John M. Simpson

SANTA MONICA, CA — Consumer Watchdog today called on Congress to ensure the adoption of federal safety standards to cover self-driving autonomous vehicles and warned...

Bill Would Block State Laws On Self-Driving Cars

June 16, 2017  ·  Mark Reback

<p><i>Washington</i> – States would prevented from passing their own laws on the testing or design of self-driving cars under a proposed bill being drafted in the U.S. House of Representatives.</p>

People Will Die Before Self-Driving Cars Save Lives, Report Says

June 15, 2017  ·  Evan Thomas King

<p>The promise of self-driving cars is the promise of Silicon Valley to make the world a better place. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who lives in Los Angeles, has made a reasonable argument about this vehicle technology, which he hopes to have available to his customers within 10 years: Humans make terrible drivers, and "1.2 million people that die every year in manual crashes." So-called robot vehicles have a much better record, though there are only a few on the road, in beta mode. Critics of the technology are "killing people," he told reporters last year.</p>

U.S. Pressed To Regulate Self-Driving Cars

June 14, 2017  ·  Mark Reback

<p><i>Washington</i> — The federal government will have to find ways to regulate self-driving cars that don’t stifle innovation among auto manufacturers and technology companies, lawmakers and industry groups agreed during a hearing that took place hours after a shooting rocked Capitol Hill on Wednesday.</p>

Self-Driving Vehicles: The Threat to Consumers

June 13, 2017  ·  Harvey Rosenfield

Self-driving vehicles have become a cultural and political phenomenon. To peruse the breathless headlines is, like a ride in Marty McFly’s DeLorean, to experience the...

Amazon Slime: Amazon’s New Consumer Deception

June 12, 2017  ·  John M. Simpson

Two Consumer Watchdog reports show that Amazon is deceiving its customers by putting fake crossed-out prices next to its products.  It’s a deceptive marketing ploy...

Google Parent Alphabet Gender-Pay Proposal Dead On Arrival

June 7, 2017  ·  Mark Reback

<p style="">MOUNTAIN VIEW — A proposal from two investment firms to order Google’s parent firm Alphabet to issue a report on an alleged “gender pay gap” was dead even before it was read out at Wednesday’s annual stockholders meeting.</p> <p style="">Earlier proxy voting by investors killed the measure, which was also proposed last year, Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt told the meeting, held at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View.</p>

Critics Fear Trump WIll Pump The Brakes On Auto Fines

June 2, 2017  ·  Mark Reback

<p><i>Washington</i> — Former National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Mark Rosekind referred to the final years of the Obama administration as the “era of Big Recall,” but safety groups are concerned that the age of muscular enforcement of federal rules for auto safety may come to an end under President Donald Trump.</p>

Old Sex Pix, Mug Shots Banned From Internet? Proposed Law May End Terror Of ‘Getting Googled’

May 30, 2017  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Was that job offer rescinded when your soon-to-be employer “Googled” you and found those sex photos you’d forgotten about?</p> <p>Was a potentially perfect life partner turned off when a police mug shot from two decades ago turned up on an obscure website?</p> <p>The state of New York is considering a way to end these kinds of high-tech terrors that are plaguing millions of people. A bill in the New York Assembly would provide victims the “Right To Be Forgotten,” and a non-profit called Consumer Watchdog is backing the proposed measure.</p>

DMV, CHP To Inspect Uber’s Self-Driving-Truck Garage

May 27, 2017  ·  Mark Reback

<p>California officials will soon inspect the headquarters of Uber's self-driving-truck division, formerly known as Otto, to help settle a lingering question - whether the company's tests on public roads violate state regulations.</p> <p><br /> Representatives of the Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Highway Patrol plan to visit the San Francisco facility sometime in the coming weeks, a DMV spokesman said Friday. The specific date has not been set.</p>

Uber’s Driverless Truck Unit Is Under Government Investigation Following Unapproved Tests

May 26, 2017  ·  Mark Reback

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">California regulators are preparing to conduct a site inspection of the San Francisco headquarters of Uber’s autonomous truck unit, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdrange/2017/05/25/otto-changes-name-uber-trademark-infringe/#6b7455455992" target="_self" rel="noopener">formerly known as Otto</a>, to determine whether the company broke state law when it tested driverless trucks on public highways without permission. </span></p>