Inside Google

AT&T, Google Among Top Lobbying Spenders in First Quarter

Grant Gross

Google critic Consumer Watchdog said the company’s increased lobbying expenses show it has bought into the “corrupt Washington power game. “Google claims its motto is, ‘don’t be evil,’ but the amount of cash they are throwing around demonstrates an astounding cynicism,” John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director, said in an email.

Consumer Watchdog Calls For Senate Hearing on Google Wi-Spy Scandal

John M. Simpson

Urges ‘Engineer Doe’ Be Given Immunity For Testifying About His Role
SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today called for a Senate hearing into the Google Wi-Spy scandal and urged that a key figure known in a Federal Communications Commission report as “Engineer Doe” be granted immunity from prosecution in return for his testimony.

Consumer Watchdog Says Google’s Record Lobbying Tab Shows Astounding Cynicism

Jamie Court

Internet Giant’s Expenses Soar 240 Percent, Topping $5.03 Million In 1st Quarter

WASHINGTON DC — Google continues to pump record amounts into its effort to influence federal legislators and policymakers, spending $5.03 million on lobbying in the first quarter of 2012, a 240 percent increase from the same quarter a year ago, according to new disclosures filed with the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Google Spends More On One Day of Lunch Than It Will On FCC Fine

Sarah Kessler

According to a report by ProPublica, the FCC legally could have fined Google up to $337,500. Mashable has contacted the FCC for comment on how the fees were calculated and will update this article with any response.

Consumer Groups Slate Google’s Tiny Wi-Spy Fine

Jeffrey Burt

John Simpson, director of the Privacy Project at the Consumer Watchdog group, said he was pleased the FCC derided Google “for its blatantly obstructionist violations, but $25,000 is chump change to an Internet giant like Google. By willfully violating the Commission’s orders, Google has managed to continue to hide the truth about Wi-Spy. Google wants everyone else’s information to be accessible, but in a demonstration of remarkable hypocrisy, stonewalls and keeps everything about itself secret.”

Sergey Brin Pounds Fists Against Walled Gardens

Richard Adhikari

“Whenever Google raises the cry of defending Internet freedom, it’s always really about what’s best for Google’s business model,” John Simpson, consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog, told TechNewsWorld.

Consumer Watchdog Demands FCC Release Uncensored Google Wi-Spy Decision, Decries Internet Giant’s Hypocrisy For Deliberately Obstructing Investigation

John M. Simpson

SANTA MONICA, CA – Consumer Watchdog today demanded that the Federal Communications Commission release an uncensored version of its highly redacted decision to fine Google $25,000 for deliberately impeding and delaying its investigation of the Wi-Spy scandal.

Industry, Privacy Advocates Offer Competing Views of ‘Do-Not-Track’

Juliana Gruenwald

John Simpson with Consumer Watchdog, which along with Chester’s group and other privacy advocates is backing the EFF/Mozilla proposal, argues that the industry’s proposal “has so many loopholes it’s meaningless.”

Franken, Consumer Groups Urge Obama to Push for New Online Privacy Rules

Brendan Sasso

Consumer Watchdog urged the Commerce Department to propose its own privacy legislation and push Congress to pass it. “Calls for action in policy papers are easy. The test of commitment is to translate high-minded principles like the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights into real legislative language,” the group wrote. It urged the Commerce Department to propose the legislation before moving forward with negotiations with Web companies.

‘Girls Around Me’ Shows a Dark Side of Social Networks

Cameron Scott

John M. Simpson, the director of Consumer Watchdog’s privacy project, said even if people understand what data they’re sharing on social networks, they don’t expect it to be “reconfigured so they can be hit upon. Just because something is technologically possible is no justification for necessarily doing it,” he said.