Inside Google

Group Wants Ex-Google Staffer’s E-Mail

Sara Jerome

The public interest group Consumer Watchdog filed a Freedom of Information Act request on Thursday asking to see emails between President Obama’s Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin and his former employer, Google. The critique that Google is closely tied to the administration picked up some steam earlier this week thanks to an Internet privacy […]

Watchdog Group Requests White House Official’s E-mail After Google Buzz Mishap

Jessica Guynn

Consumer Watchdog has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to obtain e-mails between Internet policy chief Andrew McLaughlin and his former employer, Google Inc. McLaughlin, Google’s former top lobbyist, unwittingly revealed his frequent e-mail contacts on his Google Buzz profile in February. Now the […]

Google China: Search Engine’s Stand Against Censorship Welcomed By Campaigners

Caroline Davies

Google’s decision to stop filtering search results hailed as triumph for internet freedom and a boost to the people for China

Consumer Watchdog, the California consumer, education and advocacy
organization agreed: "Google should be commended for its action. The
internet giant should never have censored results in the first place,
but the action is a strong move towards supporting freedom of speech on
the internet," said consumer advocate John Simpson.

Press Release

FTC May Put Kibosh On Google’s AdMob Deal

CONTACT: Erika Morphy

Despite the fact that the mobile advertising market is still young and fragmented, U.S. regulators apparently are concerned that Google’s proposed acquisition of AdMob could give it an unfair competitive advantage. Google got an inkling that the FTC might want to give the deal a second look shortly after it was announced. At the end of December, the company received a "second request" for
additional information from the agency, Paul Feng, group product
manager, wrote in Google’s Public Policy blog. Shortly thereafter, two consumer groups — Consumer Watchdog and the
Center for Digital Democracy — asked the Federal Trade Commission to block the deal, arguing that it would lessen competition and harm consumers, advertisers and application developers, among others.

Press Release

Google Identifies Competitors

CONTACT: Mike Swift

Google sees an Internet far more crowded with competitors than just a year ago. At least, that’s what the company is telling government regulators. Critics of Google’s dominance in search — Americans use Google for
about two thirds of U.S. searches, and the company has more than 70
percent of U.S. search advertising revenue, and about 90 percent in
Europe — say the expanded list of competitors is an attempt by Google
to paper over its dominance. "I think they are feeling the heat from several serious antitrust
investigations, and that’s reflected in the language they are using in
the 10-K," said John Simpson, of Consumer Watchdog. He argued in a
recent blog post that Google’s statements that it has many competitors
actually proves that "the opposite is actually true" and that "the real
risk to Google’s business is not from competition," but that regulators
in the U.S. and Europe "will act in the interest of consumers and force
the Internet giant to engage" in competition.

Candidates Find Incumbent Advantage Extends To Web

Sara Jerome

Thirteen years in the House and a stint as majority leader have furnished Rep.Roy Blunt, R-Mo., with useful GOP and K Street support for his Senate bid. But Blunt’s long resume also means a boost from another source: Google. Google’s overwhelming dominance of the search market has brought its
power to determine marketplace outcomes under new scrutiny this year.
Tech company Foundem and other so-called "search neutrality" advocates
allege that the search engine is gaining an unfair advantage by
favoring its own products in searches. The advocacy group Consumer
Watchdog wrote the Justice Department last week urging it to
investigate the issue, while the European Commission is already
checking out complaints from Foundem and others.

Press Release

Group Calls On Justice To Probe Google Searches

CONTACT: Juliana Gruenwald

The
consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog wrote the Justice Department
Wednesday to urge it to investigate allegations that Google is
manipulating its search results to favor its own products.

Press Release

Google Faces New Antitrust Complaints

CONTACT: Wendy Davis

Earlier this month, the shopping comparison search engine myTriggers brought an antitrust action against Google, alleging that the search giant unfairly lowered myTriggers’ quality score. This
afternoon, the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog piled on. Consumer Watchdog
called for the Department of Justice to investigate whether Google "is
manipulating" search results by returning its own sites high in the
search results.

Press Release

Judge Puts Off Ruling On Google’s Proposed Digital Book Settlement

CONTACT: Cecilia Kang

NEW YORK, NY — Google confronted a barrage of criticism from opponents of its proposed digital book settlement Thursday as the Internet search giant tried to persuade a federal judge to approve a deal that would allow it to create the world’s largest online library. Some consumer groups warned Thursday that the company that preaches not to be evil could suffer from eroding trust. "They are part of this Silicon Valley culture which says ‘don’t ask for
permission because you can always ask for forgiveness,’ " said John
Simpson, head of the nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog. "The problem is
that they are starting now to be so big and so ambitious that some of
the things they are trying to do now are overreaching in a way that
will very likely tarnish their brand."

Press Release

At Hearing On Google Books, Critics Reiterate Opposition

CONTACT: Aruna Viswanatha

In press releases this morning outlining their testimony, critics of the plan reiterated their opposition. “In essence Google’s latest arguments seem to boil down to this: ‘Our
motto is don’t be evil, so you can trust us to control the world’s
digital library,’ said John Simpson, with a group called Consumer
Watchdog which has criticized Google on privacy issues.