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FTC Backs ‘Do Not Track’ Feature In Final Privacy Report
Following the report’s release, Consumer Watchdog, an organization whose name leaves little to imagination as to its purpose, praised the FTC for supporting the ‘Do Not Track’ mechanism that will hopefully return control of data collection to the people of the internet. Consumer Watchdog has been at this fight for a couple of years, working to get consumer privacy reform at the top of the government’s to-do list. “Those efforts are paying off,” said John M. Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project. “The FTC’s support of Do Not Track means that consumers should have a meaningful way to control the tracking of their online activities by the end of the year.”
Continue reading...Reding: Google Privacy Policy Is Illegal
5. March 2012
California-based Google critic Consumer Watchdog called Google’s sweeping changes a “spy policy” rather than a privacy policy, an allusion to the fact that the move will help Google funnel data on users in one larger silo for targeted ads.
Continue reading...Google Privacy Policy Strikes Out With EU, Others
1. March 2012
“Calling this a privacy policy is Orwellian doublespeak,” John Simpson, privacy project director for Consumer Watchdog and a longtime Google critic, said in a statement. “Google isn’t telling you about protecting your privacy. Google is telling you how they will gather information about you on all of its services, combine it in new ways and use the fat new digital dossiers to sell more ads. They’re telling you how they plan to spy on you.”
Continue reading...Google Enforces New Privacy Policy, Despite International Outcry About Its Implications
1. March 2012
“Calling this a ‘privacy policy’ is Orwellian doublespeak,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project Director. “Google isn’t telling you about protecting your privacy. Google is telling you how they will gather information about you on all its services, combine it in new ways and use the fat new digital dossiers to sell more ads. They’re telling you how they plan to spy on you. It’s a spy policy.”
Continue reading...Google Rolls Out New Privacy Policy Amid Howls
1. March 2012
“Calling this a ‘privacy policy’ is Orwellian doublespeak,” said John Simpson of the US advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.
Continue reading...Google’s Privacy Rules Grow, But Do Protections?
1. March 2012
“Google claims that it’s attempting to streamline its policies — in fact, it’s about building even more detailed digital dossiers about the people who use Google services so that Google will get more ad revenue.,” says John M. Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project, a California-based non-profit organization.“
Continue reading...Bono Mack Plans Privacy Hearing
28. February 2012
WASHINGTON – As watchdog groups urge a slowdown in Google’s new privacy policy, Rep. Mary Bono Mack’s office announced Tuesday a hearing on privacy issues March 29 in which Google will likely participate.
Continue reading...Five Privacy Groups Urge Congresswoman For Public Hearing On Google Changes
24. February 2012
The letter was signed by Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), John Simpson, privacy policy director at Consumer Watchdog, Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), and Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG).
Continue reading...Google Will Add Opt-Out Button To Its Browser
24. February 2012
“The real question is how much influence companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook will have in their inevitable attempt to water down the rules that are implemented, and render them essentially meaningless,” said John Simpson, privacy policy director of Consumer Watchdog, in a statement.
Continue reading...Privacy Advocates Want Strong Role in Crafting Industry Codes
23. February 2012
“The real question is how much influence companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook will have in their inevitable attempt to water down the rules that are implemented and render them essentially meaningless. I am skeptical about the ‘multi-stakeholder process’, but am willing to make a good faith effort to try,” John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog said in a statement.
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26. March 2012