Google agreed to pay a $22.5 million penalty — the largest ever levied by the Federal Trade Commission — to settle charges that it failed to honor the privacy settings of millions of people who use Apple’s Safari Web browser, regulators said Thursday.
Continue reading...Thursday, August 9, 2012
SANTA MONICA, CA – The Federal Trade Commission’s record $22.5 million penalty against Google is inadequate unless the Internet giant admits its wrongdoing, Consumer Watchdog said today.
Continue reading...Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Despite Google's protestations of innocence, or at least ignorance, consumer advocate organizations including Consumer Watchdog decried Google's behavior and filed suit with the FTC. Needless to say, they are delighted about the reports of an impending settlement. "This is a wanton violation on Google's part," John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's privacy project director, told the E-Commerce Times, brushing aside the company's claims the tracking was accidental. "What made it even worse is that they lied to users about what they were doing," he added. "Google told people they were honoring the Safari browser settings."
Continue reading...Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Google officials have called the use of tracking cookies an accident caused by technical glitches that have been corrected. Privacy advocates have scoffed at those explanations. “When they get caught with their fingers in the cookie jar doing something they clearly should not be doing, they say, ‘Oops, it was completely by accident,’ ” said John M. Simpson of Consumer Watchdog, based in Santa Monica, Calif., and one of several groups to file complaints about Google’s alleged tracking on Apple browsers.
Continue reading...Friday, May 4, 2012
Consumer Watchdog Complained To Commission After Hack Was Discovered SANTA MONICA, CA – The Federal Trade Commission appears ready to fine Google millions of dollars for hacking around privacy settings on iPhones and iPads. Consumer Watchdog filed a complaint in February with the FTC after Stanford Researcher Jonathan Mayer revealed what the Internet giant was doing.
Continue reading...Friday, March 16, 2012
Says FTC Action Needed to Stop Google Engineers Playing ‘Fast and Loose’ With Consumers’ Private Information Santa Monica, CA – Consumer Watchdog welcomed reports today confirming that the Federal Trade Commission and European regulators are investigating Google for violating the online privacy choices of consumers using the Safari web browser on Apple computers, iPhones and iPads. In a letter last month, Consumer Watchdog said that Google was lying to consumers and called on the FTC to act.
Continue reading...Saturday, February 18, 2012
"Google has clearly engaged in 'unfair and deceptive' practices," said Consumer Watchdog privacy project director John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project director. "They have been lying about how people can protect their privacy in their instructions about how to opt out of receiving targeted advertising."
Continue reading...Saturday, February 18, 2012
An FTC spokesman said the agency had received the Consumer Watchdog complaint but said he could not comment further. "We are taking immediate steps to address concerns and we are happy to answer any questions regulators and others may have," Google said in a statement when asked to comment.
Continue reading...Saturday, February 18, 2012
The group Consumer Watchdog and some lawmakers asked publicly whether Google had violated last year's settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission over an unrelated privacy breach. Some tech watchers said that while the company's actions are certainly questionable, the full extent of the breach probably exceeded what Google had intended to do, as Google itself maintains.
Continue reading...Saturday, February 18, 2012
"Google falsely told Safari users that they could control the collection of data…when in fact Google was circumventing the preference," wrote John Simpson, the privacy-project director with the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog. Another advocacy group, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, also made similar charges.
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Thursday, August 9, 2012
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