Inside Google

Facebook’s new democracy could challenge other web giants

Jamie Court

Facebook has taken the unusual step of allowing 30% of its members to
decide privacy policies.  CBS News and CNET’s Larry Magid and I talked
the change over in this interview late last night.

Google Seeks Starvation Of Growling Watchdog

Cade Metz

(Semi-)Apology For Money-Snuffing Missive

San Francisco, CA — Google has attempted to cut the funding of a
well-known public watchdog, after the organization launched a
"guerrilla" attack on its Washington lobby operation.

Google Tries To Kibosh Funding Of Critic

Wendy Davis

This week, it came to light that Google attempted to persuade a
foundation to stop funding Consumer Watchdog, Santa Monica, Calif.-based non-profit that
criticized the search giant for its privacy stance.

Privacy Watchdog Suffers Google’s Ire

Mark Harris

Search Giant Tries To Pull Consumer Watchdog’s Funding
The U.S. privacy and consumer protection group Consumer Watchdog today shot back at Google for allegedly trying to have its funding withdrawn.

Google Rates Its Own Washington Watchdog

Shawn Zeller

Since winning the grant last August, Consumer Watchdog has challenged Google
privacy practices related to its Gmail electronic mail program and its
Chrome Web browser. Last month, the group accused Google of lobbying
Congress to weaken privacy protections for medical records stored in
its Google Health program. “Their business model is incompatible with privacy,” says Jamie Court, Consumer Watchdog’s president.

Consumer Privacy Advocates Seek Search Engine Solution

Jessica Dye

No
one knows more about us—our ailments, significant others, favorite
music, what we’re thinking about buying, and how much we spend—than our
search engines. Virtually all search engines gather information about
how searchers query, what they click, and where they wind up. This
personal information (i.e., IP addresses, cookies, session IDs) is
stored alongside queries for anywhere between 90 days and forever. "I
think most users simply don’t realize the amount of personal
information they provide," says John M. Simpson, a consumer policy
advocate with the nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog.

Availability Of Online Health Records Sparks Privacy Concerns

Renee Frojo

Consumer advocacy groups, such as Patient Privacy Rights (PPR) and
Consumer Watchdog, warn that such online records could pose a threat to
patients’ health privacy rights. PPR says the most recent health IT
portion of the Senate version of the economic stimulus bill intoduces
loopholes that allow the sale and misuse of personal health information.

Consumer Watchdog Calls on Google to Cease Lobbying Effort to Allow Sale of Patient Medical Records; Urges Congress to Adopt Privacy Protections in Economic Stimulus Bill

Jerry Flanagan 310 889-4912

Santa Monica, CA — The non-partisan Consumer Watchdog called on Google
today to cease a rumored lobbying effort aimed at allowing the sale of
electronic medical records in the current version of the Economic
Stimulus legislation.  Consumer Watchdog called on Congress to remove
loopholes in the ban on the sale of medical records and include other
privacy protections absent from the current bill such as giving
patients the right to an audit detailing who had accessed their medical
records and how the records were used.

Google Defends Privacy of Gmail Service

Michael Dinan

A Santa Monica, California-based nonprofit group that advocates for
consumers is calling for the Internet’s search and ad leader to change
the way it records users’ information. Officials with Consumer Watchdog say they want to see Google Inc. store
personal search data for less than its current nine months, following
Yahoo!’s lead, and also to give users a choice to “opt out” out of data
retention, as some other search engines do.

NYT weighs in for online privacy controls

Jamie Court

The oracle of progressive opinion, the New York Times editorial page, articulated the core concept for new privacy protection in America: "Internet users should be able to control how much of their personal data companies keep."