Tag Archive | "advertising"
Consumer Watchdog Praises European Action on Google’s New Privacy Policy, Calls For FTC To Determine If Proposed Changes Violate Consent Agreement
SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today praised European data protection authorities for asking Google to delay implementation of its new privacy and data policies and said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission should determine whether the new policies violate the terms of Google’s consent agreement with the commission.
Continue reading...Measure to Ease Video-Rental Privacy Curbs Catches Flack in Senate
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The law would allow Netflix and other providers to share movie titles not only with social-media outlets such as Facebook, but also with third-party partners. Privacy advocates hate the proposal. "It is a horrible idea," Consumer Watchdog's John M. Simpson told TechNewsWorld.
Continue reading...One Privacy Policy To Rule Them All: What Google’s Controversial New Terms of Service Could Mean To You
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson points out that personalized advertisements targeted directly to a specific user, based on user-collected information, can be “a substantial amount” more lucrative than just an anonymous ad. And with all the information Google can collect about your interests from your searches, your Google Docs, and your favorite YouTube videos, they can figure out pretty specifically what ads they should show you. “They are positioning this as streamlining privacy,” Simpson says. “But that’s just PR. It’s all about better targeting for advertisers.”
Continue reading...Facebook Critics Hope IPO Forces Some Hard Questions
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
"It's hard to predict exactly what sort of gaffe they’ll do next, but it would not surprise me if there is yet another one," said John Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project, noting some concerns over Facebook’s recent expansion of its Timeline feature, which makes it easier to visualize, share, and view users’ profile history.
Continue reading...Facebook’s IPO May Be the Last Straw for Privacy-Minded Users
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Even as a private company, Facebook had no problem pushing the envelope, Consumer Watchdog spokesperson Carmen Balber told the E-Commerce Times. "Facebook is already treading dangerous waters as far as privacy rights are concerned. The pressure to monetize consumers' user data will be greater when there are shareholders to satisfy."
Continue reading...Privacy Advocates Fiercely Furrow Brows at Google
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The announcement of the changes sparked concern among privacy watchdogs both in the United States and the European Union. "Consumers' online privacy is being eroded," growled John Simpson, a consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog.
Continue reading...Consumer Watchdog Calls For President Obama to Endorse Do Not Track and Online Privacy Legislation During State of the Union Message
Friday, January 20, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC – Consumer Watchdog today called on President Obama to use the State of the Union message to endorse baseline privacy legislation and support Do Not Track regulations that would give consumers control of whether their information is gathered while they use the Internet.
Continue reading...Criminal Probe Into Online Mortgage Scams Widens
Monday, November 21, 2011
Consumer Watchdog, a group that published a study about mortgage ad scams nine months ago, is calling for criminal charges and financial penalties against the major search engines in the current investigation. "These Internet company executives were active enablers of fraud against vulnerable homeowners," said John Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog's privacy project. "They cannot be allowed to benefit from these ill-gotten gains."
Continue reading...Bing, Yahoo Agree to Remove Mortgage Ads
Monday, November 21, 2011
Consumer Watchdog, a group that frequently criticizes Google, wasted no time on Monday calling for executives at Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo to be charged with crimes for allowing the ads to go up in the first place.
Continue reading...Feds Target Mortgage Ad Scams On Bing, Yahoo
Monday, November 21, 2011
"Clearly Microsoft and Yahoo have been turning a blind eye to these scammers," said John Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project. "Simply put, too many Internet companies including Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo--under the guise of an open Internet--allow and even encourage scam ads from which they make millions of dollars."
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Friday, February 3, 2012
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