Inside Google

As governments tap user data, Google transparency lags

Margot Williams

Amidst a surge in governmental requests for private user data, Google’s openness effort is lagging, as the release of Google’s second transparency report shows. The report, released Tuesday, is a welcome sign of the search engine’s commitment to openness, but it is not a big improvement over the initial report last April.

Promise of ad industry self-regulation falls flat

Carmen Balber

I was at Google’s DC headquarters yesterday afternoon for the first event of AdWeek 2010 – the advertising industry’s annual conference in DC. I don’t know if one company always dominates the event, but this year seems to be an all-Google affair. As the only advertiser that’s a “platinum sponsor,” Google hosted, sat on, or was the topic of five panels — more indication that Google is king in the online ad world.

Three reasons to turn off creepy Google Instant (and how to do it)

Margot Williams

Google Instant is not for me. When I search, I don’t want Google to know where I am or what I like or to tell me things it thinks I am interested in. I don’t want a for-profit corporation to be what Sergey Brin wants Google to be – “the third half of your brain.”

Engineer’s abuse validates ice cream truck video; Google needs to answer questions

John M. Simpson

Sometimes satire becomes more true than anyone ever could imagine happening. News this week shows our video touted in Times Square and viewed more than 330,000 times is right on the mark. CEO Eric Schmidt is driving the Google ice cream truck and an engineer in the back has been invading kids’ privacy.

Rogue engineers flout Google privacy rules

Margot Williams

Google has fired an engineer for accessing the user accounts of four minors, according Gawker media. David Barksdale stalked and spied upon the teenagers while working as a Site Reliability Engineer at Google’s Kirkland, WA, office. Google told Tech Crunch this is the second time it has fired an engineer for privacy violations.

Google OKs critical ads after Consumer Watchdog’s letter to CEO Eric Schmidt

John M. Simpson

Google has now decided to run ads from Consumer Watchdog critical of the Internet giant’s privacy practices and aimed to promote a satirical animated video of CEO Eric Schmidt. Thursday Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court and I wrote Schmidt arguing that the company had a moral obligation to display advertising from critics.

Press Release

Our letter to Eric Schmidt: Google shouldn’t care more about its own privacy than ours

CONTACT: Jamie Court

Google’s mission may be to open the world to information, but it is refusing to let our consumer group buy a search advertisement promoting wildly popular online animation that takes CEO Eric Schmidt to task over his statements about privacy issues. It seems the search giant cares a lot more about its own corporate privacy, than it does about its users’ privacy.

Online views soar in overwhelming response to Inside Google video

John M. Simpson

Response to our video “Don’t Be Evil?” lampooning Google and its CEO Eric Schmidt’s attitude toward privacy has been overwhelming since we launched it with a jumbotron digital ad in New York’s Times Square last week. Views  soared past the quarter million mark on Monday of the three-day holiday weekend. The satirical video shows Schmidt […]

Press Release

Google settles ‘Buzz’ suit; Texas opens antitrust probe

CONTACT: John M. Simpson

There were two major legal developments Friday involving Internet giant Google as the nation focused its attention on the long Labor Day holiday weekend. Both merit recapping, but unfortunately one is less of a victory for consumers than it might first appear. The other development could be a hint of huge problems to come for Google.

We have taken the “Do Not Track Me” fight to Times Square!

Jamie Court

Right now, running twice an hour in Times Square, there’s a 540 sq. ft. animation of Google CEO Eric Schmidt giving little kids free ice cream and secretly gathering their personal information.
We put up the ad to make the public aware of how out of touch Schmidt and Google are when it comes to our privacy rights.