Euro regulators asked Google to hold off on implementing its new privacy...
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Entering Nixonland: FCC Fines Google for “Willfully” Obstructing Investigations
It’s not the crime, it’s the coverup. You’d think most people would have learned that lesson of Watergate, but Friday’s decision by the Federal Communication Commission to fine Google $25,000 for “willfully” ignoring subpoenas and delaying investigations into the company’s “wi-spy” scandal should be a 25-page wake-up call that Google is accelerating its legal meltdown. [...]
69 privacy for Google by European Privacy Regulators
Euro regulators asked Google to hold off on implementing its new privacy policy. Google ignored the request, so regulators are now drilling down in an investigation of whether the policy violates European privacy laws and regulations. Acting on behalf of the European network of data protection authorities, the French Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des [...]
Solving the Google Privacy Problem Will Largely Solve the Google Antitrust Problem
We seem to be having two debates about Google— on the cultural side, the question is whether the company violates user privacy too much and, on the business side, is Google a monopoly threat in the marketplace? But these are not separate issues at all. Larry Page and Sergey Brin did not create Google because [...]
European Regulators: Google’s New Privacy Rules Violate EU Data Protection Law
Last month, Google announced that it would begin integrating user data across all its services and create a single privacy policy that users would automatically agree to for all its services whenever they used any single Google service. European regulators on Feb. 2nd asked Google to hold off implementing the policy until they had a [...]
Why Can’t We be FRANDs? Google Slapped Down by German Court for Patent Abuse
Now, Google is hardly alone in abusing patents, but a German high court’s ruling against Motorola shows that Google is just adding to the list of its monopoly abuses by playing the patent abuser game. The ruling stemmed from Google demanding that companies either pay an absurdly high patent license fee — in this case [...]
Why Shouldn’t App Creators be Able to Cut Deals w AT&T for Unlimited Data Access for their Services?
AT&T is discussing the possibility of letting app creators pay to let wireless users bypass data caps when using particular app services. De facto, app makers could use payments from users — or revenues from ads generated by those users — to cover the data costs. Groups like Public Knowledge are complaining about the possible [...]
State AGs Join Europe in Challenging New Google Privacy Policy
In a letter sent to Google Chief Executive Larry Page, more than 30 state attorneys general wrote that the new Google policy of consolidating user personal information across all Google services “is troubling for a number of reasons.” In condemning the policy, the state AGs join European privacy regulators in seeing the move by Google [...]
So Much for Opt-Out: Google Tracked Even Safari Users Who Asked Not to Be Tracked
Given the constant variations on Google violating user privacy, this newest breach is so deceptive and in fact targeted some users who had specifically opted out of tracking, so it is indeed a new low in deceptive violations of privacy by the company. According to Information Week: Google has conceded that it used secret programming [...]
Google’s Motorola Purchase Looks Increasingly to be a Weapon in Platform Wars
Last week, the big news was Google’s use of Motorola’s patents to begin demands from other companies for licensing fees– as much as 2.25% of every iPhone or other device price. That adds up to Apple paying Google a billion dollars a year for example. Now, all the firms are using patents as weapons and [...]
EPIC Sues FTC for Failure to Enforce Google Consent Order
From yesterday at the Electronic Privacy Information Center web site. EPIC today filed a Complaint and a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction in Federal District Court in Washington, DC. EPIC is seeking to compel the Federal Trade Commission to act prior to March 1, when Google plans to make changes in its [...]