Inside Google

Consumer Watchdog Hopes To Lick Google

Amber MacArthur

The animated creation portrays Google CEO Eric Schmidt as a creepy old dude riding around in an ice cream truck offering up free treats to little kids. The high-tech vehicle conducts body scans of the children to capture their personal information and “Schmidt” shares news with the little ones about their parents’ web surfing habits. According to Consumer Watchdog, they are hoping the video will encourage people to create a “Do Not Track Me” list that will prevent Internet companies from invading consumers’ privacy (just like the “Do Not Call” lists).

Times Square Video Pokes Google On Privacy

Gautham Nagesh

Consumer Watchdog has launched a 540-square-foot animated advertisement that mocks Google’s privacy practices by depicting Google chief executive Eric Schmidt using an ice cream truck to steal secret information from children.

Erika Morphy

Rabid Consumer Watchdog Attacks Google CEO

Consumer Watchdog has created quite a stir with its Times Square jumbotron attack ad depicting Google CEO Eric Schmidt as a child predator. The so-called lampoon is designed to provoke outrage against Google’s perceived privacy intrusions, but some viewers may find the privacy group’s tactics even more outrageous. Consumer Watchdog’s Simpson shrugged off such criticism. “Sometimes, as an advocate, you want to focus attention on an issue — and if someone calls you crazy, then you put on your thick skin and smile, because that means they are focusing on the issue,” he said. “As long as people are talking about the issue seriously, we are happy.”

Consumer Watchdog Thinks Google’s Schmidt is a Data Perv

Robert X. Cringely

Imagine wandering through Times Square and seeing a 60-foot-tall animation depicting you (yes, you) as a creepy child-baiting ice cream truck driver. How would you feel? That’s probably the question Google’s Eric Schmidt is being asked today.

Consumer Group Lampoons Google CEO Over Privacy Issues

Jaikumar Vijayan

Consumer Watchdog, a group that has been a sharp critic of Google’s privacy practices in the past, is at it again. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based consumer advocacy group has placed an ad on a 540-square-foot digital display in New York’s Times Square to promote an animated video on YouTube that depicts Google CEO Eric Schmidt as an ice cream truck driver secretly spying on children.

Oh Snap! Consumer Watchdog kicks Google and CEO Schmidt HARD!

Staff Writers

Picture a 540-square-foot animated ad, a cartoon video mocking Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt; now picture it running twice an hour, 36 times per day, in New York’s Times Square. Consumer Watchdog has launched a huge and very public campaign against Google, highlighting its concerns over Google’s privacy policies and the need for Congress to enact a national ‘Do Not Track Me’ list. The massive cartoon digital advertisement is titled “Don’t Be Evil?” The avatar-style animation features Schmidt driving an ice cream truck and offering “free” ice cream while he secretly spies on children.

Consumer Watchdog Group Goes After Google

Nick Bilton

Consumer Watchdog, a consumer group, has long been critical of Google and some of the comments that Eric Schmidt, the company’s chief executive, has made about privacy online.

Video Mocks Google’s Privacy Practices

Juliana Gruenwald

Consumer Watchdog has launched a rather unique effort in its bid to highlight its concerns over Google’s privacy policies and to push Congress to allow consumers to opt out of having their Web activities tracked by online firms.

Smile! Aerial Images Being Used to Enforce Laws

Frank Eltman

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — On New York’s Long Island, it’s used to prevent drownings. In Greece, it’s a tool to help solve a financial crisis. Municipalities update property assessment rolls and other government data with it. Some in law enforcement use it to supplement reconnaissance of crime suspects. High-tech eyes in the sky — from satellite […]

Santa Monica Consumer Group Alleges Google-Verizon Internet Plan Could Hinder Universal Internet Access

Dennis Romero

A Santa Monica-based consumer watchdog group this week decried a proposal by Google and Verizon Communications that it says would put an end to net neutrality and create a system of pay-to-play haves and have-nots when it comes to internet access.