David Vladeck, head of the bureau of consumer protection at the FTC, told attendees at Consumer Watchdog's Future of Online Consumer Protections conference that the agency plans to release the report later this morning that will lay bare the FTC's commitment to giving U.S. consumers greater choice when it comes to opting out of online tracking. Vladeck declined to get into specifics for fear of upstaging his boss later in the day, but said "we need to reduce the burden on consumers" to monitor how companies are tracking their activities on the Internet for advertising purposes.
Continue reading...Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Weitzner spoke at a conference on the future of online consumer protections that the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog hosted. Marketers have created a lucrative business by collecting detailed data on Internet users' behaviors and backgrounds, including estimates of income and family composition, to compile consumer profiles for corporate clients. Do Not Track "is the perfect illustration for a robust stakeholder process to develop voluntary but enforceable codes of conduct," Weitzner added.
Continue reading...Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Last April, Consumer Watchdog published this report, titled Traffic Report: How Google Is Squeezing Out Competitors and Muscling Into New Markets. The group formally asked the Justice Department to launch an antitrust probe of the search giant. But the European Commission beat their U.S. counterparts to the punch. "I welcome the European action, but Google is a U.S. Company and it's long past time for our authorities to launch an investigation," says Consumer Watchdog spokesman John Simpson.
Continue reading...Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Google watchdogs for the Consumer Watchdog praised the Commission's move but lamented the lack of such scrutiny of the search engine in the U.S. "It's long been clear that Google unfairly uses its dominance in search to benefit its own services," said John M. Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog's Inside Google project. "I'm pleased with the European announcement, but this is a U.S. company and it is past time for our authorities to act decisively."
Continue reading...Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Google’s Anticompetitive Tactics Will Be Topic At Group’s Conference Wednesday WASHINGTON — Consumer Watchdog today welcomed the European Union’s antitrust investigation of Google and reiterated its call for the the U.S. Justice Department to launch its own investigation of the Internet giant.
Continue reading...Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Four public interest groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday urging the agency to investigate whether those offering online health information and services are engaging in unfair and deceptive advertising practices.
Continue reading...Tuesday, November 23, 2010
A coalition of privacy groups and other advocates are asking the Federal Trade Commission to probe whether online health marketers engage in deceptive practices by tracking users across the Web in order to serve them targeted ads.
Continue reading...Tuesday, November 23, 2010
QualityHealth is one of a number of companies cited in the complaint to the F.T.C. filed by four nonprofit privacy and consumer advocacy groups. In the complaint, the Center for Digital Democracy, U.S. PIRG, Consumer Watchdog and the World Privacy Forum charged that online marketing of medications, products and medical services posed fundamental new risks to consumer privacy and health because of sophisticated data collection and patient-profiling techniques.
Continue reading...Friday, November 19, 2010
The Obama administration is advancing plans for strengthening the federal government’s ability to monitor the Internet.
Continue reading...Thursday, November 11, 2010
Ardent Google critic Consumer Watchdog has called on Congress to hold hearings on a major privacy breach by the Internet search engine giant, and insists that CEO Eric Schmidt should come to Washington to testify.
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Wednesday, December 1, 2010
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