Eight members of Congress have sent a letter to Google CEO Larry Page asking tough and necessary questions about the Internet giant’s new wearable computing device, Google Glass. The letter from members of the Bipartisan Privacy Caucus , whose Co-chair is conservative Joe Barton, (R-TX), says, “As members of the Congressional Bipartisan Privacy Caucus, we are curious whether [...]

Since 1975 the value of everything has gone up, except the value of my son’s life under California law. Last week my son, Steven and I went to Sacramento to say “38 years is too late.” We announced a ballot initiative to create stronger patient safety laws and adjust this nearly 38 year-old law. You can [...]

Microsoft, which is trying to position itself in a major advertising campaign as a privacy friendly Internet company, should take a simple step that shows it means what it says. Online tracking is pervasive and invasive on the Internet. The most insidious is performed by companies that most consumers don’t even know exist, so-called 3rd parties [...]

What a week! Three big victories in California will keep us safer from dangerous doctors, toxic polluters and privacy invasions, but we only got there thanks to your support. State Senator Curren Price and Assemblyman Richard Gordon proposed yesterday to strip the California Medical Board of its authority over physician discipline. The physician-run Board has [...]

Google apparently is ending an egregious privacy breach involving people who buy apps from its Google Play store using Google Wallet to pay. Consumer Watchdog filed a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission with a copy to California Attorney General Kamala Harris about what Google was doing. The complaint alleged that the Internet giant was violating its privacy policies [...]

It’s Earth Day. Here in California, state regulators are celebrating with their Keep California Beautiful Event that kicks off at the State Capitol followed by cleanup activities, like picking up litter and collecting e-waste, across the State. The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) that protects communities from toxic harm is in on the act [...]

Google, the company that makes its money by assembling digital dossiers about its users and selling them to advertisers for the highest bid, reported earnings Thursday. Revenue increased 31 percent to $13.97 billion and net income in the first quarter rose 16 percent to $3.35 billion, or $9.94 a share. Admittedly as I listened to the earnings [...]

Details of Google’s proposed settlement with the European Union to avoid antitrust charges have been leaking out of Brussels over the weekend. And while EU competition authorities appear to have accomplished more that the gentle tap on the wrist meted out by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission , the deal as so far revealed doesn’t do enough to end [...]

Last month, at an emotional in hearing in Sacramento and in a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed , we called for the state agency that oversees doctors to become a stronger regulator or to go out of business. The Legislature has to renew the doctor-run medical board every ten years, and that’s this year. Sacramento apparently agrees with us. [...]

On Friday, federal accident investigators told California legislators that the state’s patchwork of oil industry regulations needs a serious overhaul. The Chevron fire that produced a toxic cloud and sent 15,000 people to the hospital could have been prevented, but the system was reactive and not designed to foresee and forestall problems, said the U.S. [...]

Serial privacy violator Google may face fines in the millions of dollars in Europe as six countries Tuesday opened formal investigations into how Google combined its privacy and data policies last year without bothering to seek users’ consent. The actions by France, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain came as Google refused to make [...]

Google’s privacy chief, Alma Whitten, is stepping down the Internet giant confirmed Monday. Since word of her departure came out on April Fools’ Day many folks probably thought this was part of the company’s annual elaborate pranks like its “announcement” of a new service called “Google Nose.” I mean how many of you actually thought Google even had [...]

Consumer Watchdog has filed a second complaint asking that the Federal Trade Commission act immediately against Google’s most recent privacy violation – sharing users’ personal information with apps developers — after new information became available in a letter from Google to Rep. Hank Johnson, (D-GA) . We’ve also expressed our concerns again to California Attorney General Kamala Harris . When we filed our [...]

Eleven Internet Companies are pressing European antitrust regulators to take strong action against Google so that the Internet giant’s smaller rivals aren’t hurt. And what happens across the pond in this case could have an impact on possible antitrust action in the United States. The companies, organized by the British shopping comparison website Foundem , sent a letter Thursday to [...]

There are two ways to look at Google Glass, the eyeware-spyware the Internet Goliath is releasing later this year. Glass half full: it services us for convenience. Glass half empty: it services the corporation by allowing our eye glasses to record every public and private moment that goes into a digital profile in the cloud [...]

There aren’t too many great days for patient safety in state capitols, where the medical establishment tends to rule the roost through the power of its political giving and tentacles. But Monday was a great day for patient safety in Sacramento, when powerful testimony reminded legislators of the human cost of inaction. The families of victims [...]

Says State Attorneys General $7 Million Deal with Google Won’t Stop Company’s Serial Privacy Abuses The $7 million deal announced today ending a multi-state investigation of the Google Wi-Spy scandal does virtually nothing to thwart the Internet giant’s repeated privacy violations, Consumer Watchdog said. The public interest group said Google should pay an amount that would [...]

Reports were circulating in the tech press Friday that serial privacy violator Google is about to cut a deal with state attorneys general to close their investigation of the Wi-Spy scandal. Remember what happened? Google sent specially equipped cars to travel the highways and byways of the world snapping photos of everything they passed. What Google [...]

A pro-consumer candidate to the Federal Trade Commission, who had the backing of the entire public interest community, really wanted the job. But this candidate didn’t want allies to go public for fear of alienating the White House. What happened? Today POTUS hosed us and gave the keys to the FTC to corporate attorney Edith Ramirez . The [...]

The power of the petroleum industry in California may be unparalleled in the states. Its lobbying machine is stupendously successful. For instance, California remains the only significant oil producer that does not tax oil extracted in the state. It has very weak–perhaps the weakest–regulation of oil and gas extraction, particularly hydraulic fracturing of deep deposits, known [...]