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Google’s Buzz outs White House aide, former Googler

You might call it poetic justice.

Remember the more than justifiable flap that ensued when Google launched its Buzz social networking service as part of Gmail?  People quickly saw that the people they most frequently emailed were displayed publicly on their profile.

Apparently Andrew McLaughlin, Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the White House, was among those who had his contacts revealed.  McLaughlin is in charge of Internet policy for the administration.  Before signing on at the White House, he was Google’s head of global public policy. Put simply, he was the Internet giant’s top global lobbyist.

That’s why we were among those who asked President Obama (opens in new tab) not to appoint him.

Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government blog (opens in new tab) got hold of McLaughlin’s profile before he made it private. It reveals that "McLaughlin’s Gmail appears to include a ‘who’s who’ of Google senior lobbyists and lawyers from across the globe."

Golly, who would have ever thought that he’d keep up his ties with his former Google pals?  Thank you, Google Buzz

John M. Simpson

John M. Simpson

John M. Simpson is an American consumer rights advocate and former journalist. Since 2005, he has worked for Consumer Watchdog, a nonpartisan nonprofit public interest group, as the lead researcher on Inside Google, the group's effort to educate the public about Google's dominance over the internet and the need for greater online privacy.

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