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.
Continue reading...Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Google launched its much anticipated social networking service, Buzz, today aimed a competing with sites like Facebook and Twitter....
Continue reading...Tuesday, February 9, 2010
It's these highly personalized capabilities that raise the hackles of privacy advocates, however. They raise a host of questions about "how the data is used and manipulated without the consumer understanding," said John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog. Those concerns are only heightened by the proposed acquisition by Google, which he said could bore deeper into personal information by coupling its rich user databases with AdMob's.
Continue reading...Wednesday, January 13, 2010
San Francisco, CA -- In a surprise announcement late Tuesday, Google Inc. said it may turn its back on the huge Chinese market after a sophisticated cyber attack on the e-mail accounts of human rights advocates in the Asian nation. Some have dubbed the country's censorship efforts, which apply to Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s search engines too, the "Great Firewall of China." Users of Google.cn in China generally couldn't look at images of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, dig up information about Tibet's Dalai Lama or access the Web site for journalism watchdog organization Reporters Without Borders, according to reports. "While Google should never have agreed to censor search results in China in the first place, it is doing the right thing by ending the practice now," said John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog in Los Angeles. "The company should be commended."
Continue reading...Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Google acted again Tuesday to ensure that will be a dominant player in the increasingly important mobile market. It clearly wants to avoid what happened to other tech...
Continue reading...Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Apple has bought mobile advertising company Quattro Wireless as cellphone competition heats up between the maker of the iPhone and Internet giant Google. Google's purchase of AdMob is currently being examined by the US Federal Trade Commission, and two consumer groups, the Center for Digital Democracy and Consumer Watchdog, have urged the FTC to oppose the deal on anti-trust grounds.
Continue reading...Monday, January 4, 2010
Tuesday is a big day for those trying to figure out just what Google is planning for the increasingly important mobile phone market. The Internet giant has...
Continue reading...Sunday, January 3, 2010
The Center for Digital Democracy and U.S. Public Interest Research Group filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission last January, arguing that people should be asked for their consent before their information can be collected and used for mobile advertising. The Center for Digital Democracy and Consumer Watchdog have urged the FTC to reject Google's acquisition of AdMob, citing both competitive and privacy concerns.
Continue reading...Monday, December 28, 2009
Google recently revealed that the Federal Trade Commission was intensely reviewing the search giant's recent $750 million acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob. Last week, Google said the FTC has made a second request for further information about the deal. Today, two consumer groups, Consumer Watchdog and the Center For Digital Democracy, have asked the FTC to block the deal on anti-trust grounds and possible privacy issues.
Continue reading...Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The resignation of Google's Eric Schmidt as a director of Apple's board has failed to halt a government inquiry into possible antitrust violations. Mr. Schmidt stepped down because the search giant's business increasingly competes with Apple's. Former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson still serves on both boards. Consumer Watchdog has called for him to step down from either Google or Apple to avoid antitrust violations.
Continue reading...
Thursday, March 11, 2010
0 Comments