"We're interested in the monopolistic power that Google has, how they are using it and whether it has disadvantaged consumers," said John Simpson, a director at Consumer Watchdog.
Continue reading...Monday, December 20, 2010
Santa Monica, CA — The Do Not Track Me function proposed in the Federal Trade Commission’s recently released online privacy report must be extended to include smartphones, Consumer Watchdog said today in the wake of a Wall Street Journal article showing how applications for the iPhone and Android phones widely share personal data without the users’ knowledge or consent.
Continue reading...Saturday, December 18, 2010
That answer isn't satisfactory for privacy pundits such as Consumer Watchdog's John M. Simpson. "Google's refusal to give data gathered by its Street View cars from private WiFi networks to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal underscores the need for a Congressional hearing," Simpson said. "What is Google hiding?
Continue reading...Thursday, December 16, 2010
While pleased that the agency is bringing attention to the need to do more to protect consumer privacy online, representatives from five privacy groups said in a conference call that the report's proposed measures are too focused on industry self regulation. It's a "Christmas gift to the data collection industry from the Obama administration," according to John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog.
Continue reading...Thursday, December 16, 2010
The Commerce Department paper calls for an online privacy bill of rights and codes of conduct for Internet companies, with enforcement by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. But several privacy groups questioned whether the codes of conduct would be effective because of the paper's suggestion that affected companies help write them. The policy recommendations in the report are an "early Christmas gift to the data collection industry," said John Simpson, consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog.
Continue reading...Thursday, December 16, 2010
John Simpson, consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog, said the report starts off on the wrong foot with its very title - 'Commercial Data Privacy and Innovation in the Internet Economy: A Dynamic Policy Framework.' “They talk about commercial data privacy," Simpson said. "What we should be talking about is consumers' data and their right to privacy, not a business commodity. This is all about easing things for businesses. It’s in some sense I think an early Christmas gift to the data collection industry from the Obama administration.”
Continue reading...Thursday, December 16, 2010
WASHINGTON, DC — The Commerce Department’s “Green Paper” about online privacy is an industry friendly document that would perpetuate current failed practices that give companies, not consumers, control of consumer data, Consumer Watchdog said today.
Continue reading...Thursday, December 9, 2010
"We do not need a technological arms race," said John M. Simpson, director of CW's Inside Google project, "A simple 'Do Not Track Me' message sent from a browser that advertisers would be required by law to honor would do that."
Continue reading...Wednesday, December 8, 2010
“The World Wide Web is in danger,” says Tim Berners-Lee, the computer scientist who invented the ubiquitous http://www protocol—and part of the threat comes from Mountain View. “Some of [the Web’s] most successful inhabitants have begun to chip away at its principles,” he writes in a piece entitled “Long Live the Web” appearing in the most recent issue of Scientific American.
Continue reading...Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Advertisers complain the Internet Explorer browser tool will hinder their ability to support free news, entertainment and other online content. Less than a week after federal regulators proposed giving web users a “do-not-track” option against online advertisers, Microsoft announced that it will add its own tracking protection mechanism in the next version of Internet Explorer […]
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Thursday, December 23, 2010
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