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Consumer Watchdog

Privacy

Consumer Watchdog investigations and advocacy on data privacy, surveillance, AI, and your right to control your personal information.
Google Resists Broadening “Right To Be Forgotten”

Google Resists Broadening “Right To Be Forgotten”

<h2>Advertisers group backs Google, privacy advocates not so much</h2> <p>Not surprisingly, Google is resisting a demand that it broaden the "right to be forgotten" by censoring search results worldwide, saying that allowing one country to censor the Web worldwide would start a "race to the bottom."</p>
Ad Group Urges FTC To Reject Right To Be Forgotten In US

Ad Group Urges FTC To Reject Right To Be Forgotten In US

<section class="page"> <p style=""><span itemprop="articleBody text">The U.S. Federal Trade Commission should reject a privacy group’s push to extend the E.U.’s controversial right to be forgotten rules to the U.S. because such regulations would have a “sweeping” negative effect on many U.S. companies, a trade group said.</span></p>
Democracy At Work

Democracy At Work

<p><img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2881" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/images_dtscp_logo_0.jpg" style="width: 121px; height: 90px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; float: right;" width="121" height="90" />When the confirmation of California’s top toxics regulator was over, Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de Leon addressed the audience: “You saw democracy working…” But was this really democracy at work?</p>
Biggest Problem For Robot Cars May Be That People Don’t Want Them

Biggest Problem For Robot Cars May Be That People Don’t Want Them

<p>Promoters of self-driving vehicles tout the supposed benefits the robot cars will bring such as improved road<img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-2879" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/images_robocar2.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 199px; float: right;" width="371" height="370" /> safety if all the technological challenges are solved.  They appear to assume adoption will be widespread once the robot technology is perfected.</p>
The Driverless Car Debate: How Safe Are Autonomous Vehicles?

The Driverless Car Debate: How Safe Are Autonomous Vehicles?

<p>When it comes to the future of transportation, the first thing that comes to mind is the possibility of <a href="http://www.techtimes.com/articles/71023/20150722/terrafugia-debuts-tf-x-hybrid-electric-vehicle-drives-land-air.htm?exe=reporter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flying cars</a>. <span class="spellchecker-word-highlight"><span class="spellchecker-word-highlight"><span class="spellchecker-word-highlight">It's</span></span></span> easy to imagine an urban utopia with vehicles that float through the air, swerving around buildings, reaching toward the heavens.</p>
US Senator Wants Feds To Investigate Apple Over Music Streaming

US Senator Wants Feds To Investigate Apple Over Music Streaming

<p><strong>Al Franken is particularly concerned about whether Apple has stymied competition in the music-streaming business by controlling its own application marketplace.</strong></p> <p style="">Apple's streaming-music service may have debuted only a few weeks ago, but already one senator is concerned that the iPhone maker could become a dominant, anticompetitive force.</p>
Senator Calls For Investigation Of Apple’s Music Streaming Policies

Senator Calls For Investigation Of Apple’s Music Streaming Policies

<h2 itemprop="description">Licensing terms prohibit competing companies from letting consumers know of better music deals</h2> <div id="drr-container" itemprop="articleBody"> <p>Apple's licensing terms for competing music streaming services may be raising prices for consumers, a potential unfair competition issue that should be investigated, a U.S. senator alleged Wednesday.</p>
Consumer Advocacy Group, Sen. Al Franken Add To Apple Music Antitrust Clamor

Consumer Advocacy Group, Sen. Al Franken Add To Apple Music Antitrust Clamor

<p><span itemprop="articleBody"><span class="article-leader">Advocacy group Consumer Watchdog leveled antitrust accusations against Apple Music in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice on Wednesday, saying Apple is leveraging access to consumer credit cards and user music preferences to tamp down competition. Senator Al Franken shared similar concerns in a separate letter to the same governmental bodies.</span></span><br />  </p>
Senator Urges Probe Of Apple’s Music Streaming Practices

Senator Urges Probe Of Apple’s Music Streaming Practices

<p><span id="articleText"><span class="focusParagraph">A U.S. senator wants two federal agencies to investigate whether <a class="vglnk" href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=AAPL.O" rel="nofollow"><span>Apple </span><span>Inc</span></a> is breaking antitrust law in how it treats music services that compete with the streaming service it launched in June.</span></span></p>