The FTC could move quickly to fine Google for bypassing the default privacy settings in Apple's Safari web browser. An article in today's San Jose Mercury News confirms an earlier Wall Street Journal report that the FTC is investigating Google's actions, and added that a fine could be levied within the next 30 days. At issue is whether Google violated its Google Buzz privacy settlement, part of which included Google promising not to misrepresent its privacy practices to consumers. Because the FTC is investigating the Safari cookie issue as part of a previous agreement, the Mercury News s [...]

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The US Federal Communications Commission has cleared Google of any legal wrong-doing over its Street View cars that intercepted wifi transmissions. That's the good news for the company. The bad news? The FCC is fining Google $25,000 for "willfully and repeatedly" not cooperating with the investigation. The StreetView Wifi Eavesdropping In 2010, it was discovered that Google's Street View cars were doing more than just taking pictures. They were also gathering information about wifi locations, meant in part as a way for Google to better locate people using services such as Android phones or s [...]

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Following on the heels of Expedia filing an antitrust claim against Google in Europe, fellow FairSearch.org member TripAdvisor has also filed a complaint against Google with the EU. My sense is that this is part of a coordinated effort to put more pressure on the EU to bring formal antitrust charges against the company. EU antitrust commissioner Joaquín Almunia has said that a decision about whether to formally charge Google will come after the Easter holiday in Europe. If I’m correct and there’s some coordination behind the scenes going on, we can expect more companies to take simi [...]

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On Friday Travel site Expedia filed an antitrust complaint against Google with the EU. That brings the number of formal anti-competition complaints in Europe to 12. According to a widely quoted statement from Expedia the complaint 'offers evidence of how Google's conduct harms not only competition, but consumers." The specific "evidence" was not made public. EU antitrust commissioner Joaquín Almunia has said that a decision about whether to formally charge Google will come after the Easter holiday in Europe. The focus of many of the EU complaints has been the argument that Google unfairly [...]

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According to the Wall Street Journal, US and European regulators are now formally investigating the facts and circumstances behind "Cookiegate," the circumvention of default privacy settings on the iPhone's Safari browser by Google. When the practice was discovered or revealed in an article in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year it was discontinued by Google. At the time Google put out a statement, arguing it was merely delivering the experience that its users had already signed-in to receive, and that it wasn't some sort of nefarious plot: The Journal mischaracterizes what happened [...]

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It's not just the U.S. federal government that has concerns with Google's new privacy policy. Three dozen state attorneys general want to meet with Google "as soon as possible" to discuss the company's privacy changes -- changes that are due to take effect on March 1st. In a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, the attorneys general say they have "strong concerns" with Google's "troubling" new privacy policy. Until now, users of Google's many products could use different products in different ways, expecting that information they provide for one product, such as YouTube, would not be sy [...]

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Earlier this month, Google did a post to bust myths that it felt were being spread about the company regarding privacy. First on the list was from an ad run against Google by FairSearch. Google even later updated its post to say the FairSearch ad had been pulled as  "inaccurate." As it turns out, the ad wasn't pulled as Google claimed, even though I'd agree it was inaccurate. It's been quite the bouncing ball I've had to follow in order to clear all this up. Come along, and I'll explain what happened. Google's Myth Busting Post Here's the original Google post: The arrow marked 1 point [...]

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The Wall Street Journal is out with a story about how Google has been "bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people" who use Apple's Safari web browser, along with a headline about "Google's iPhone tracking." More accurately, Google's been bypassing Safari's default privacy settings that block certain types of cookies rather than overriding what people specifically set. But that still doesn't make the revelation less of a body blow to Google's reputation. By default, Safari doesn't accept "third-party cookies." The Wall Street Journal reveals that Google found a way around this. Goo [...]

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The controversy surrounding Google's privacy policy changes continues on both sides of the Atlantic. The European Commission wants to look more closely at Google's new, consolidated policy before it goes into effect on March 1, 2012. Meanwhile, back in the US, the Electronic Privacy Information Center has initiated a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain a copy of a privacy report Google filed pursuant to its settlement with the FTC over Google Buzz. EPIC believes that the new Google Privacy Policy may violate the terms of the Buzz Settlement. In its FOIA request EPIC says tha [...]

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Last September, Google CEO Larry Page warned Google's biggest threat was Google itself. His words are ringing true, as Google arch-nemesis Microsoft is seizing on Google's recent missteps to score some points through a newspaper ad campaign that pitches Microsoft's products as treating customers better than Google's do. The ads -- running in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and USA Today -- suggest that Google's forthcoming privacy policy changes are designed to put Google's interests over that of its customers. A related blog post also indirectly raises issues about Google's ne [...]

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That was quick. Google has already replied to several questions from Congress about the new, combined privacy policy that the company announced a week ago today. But in its letter, Google may not be giving Congress a good enough answer on lawmakers' main question about users being able to opt-out. Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said last week that Google's announcement ...raises concerns about whether consumers can opt-out of this new data sharing system. Pablo Chavez, Google's director of public policy, begins his response to Congress by reframing the question: [...]

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Is Google, which has largely enjoyed a reputation as a trustworthy, wacky and fun company now gaining a new reputation, as something to be feared? When comedian Steve Martin pokes at your privacy policy, when anti-Google graffiti starts turning up and Google "conspiracies" get mentioned on lovable Zooey Deschanel's "New Girl" sitcom, maybe something's up. To Date, The Public Loves Google No doubt, many in the technosphere or with media companies have long viewed Google as a company to be wary of, if not outright feared. But that fear simply hasn't been reflected among people in general. Con [...]

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With the debate continuing after Google announced a sweeping new approach to its privacy policy on Tuesday, the company has issued a fairly terse statement that also confirms reports that Congress has questions about Google's changes. In a short blog post, Google Policy Manager Betsy Masiello says Google "look(s) forward" to answering questions from Congress. That's in response to, and confirmation of, an earlier Reuters report that the House Energy and Commerce Committee wants to talk to Google about its privacy policy. From the Reuters article: In a letter to Google Chief Executive Lar [...]

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It sounds like the Miranda warning so familiar to those who watch US cop shows: "Anything you can and do will be held against you in a court of law." On March 1, Google has a new privacy policy and terms of service that goes into effect. Anything you do on Google, under these new agreements, can and may be used to target you in a court of Google, so to speak. In many ways, this is Google growing up into the new portal it has become. Rather than people signing up for individual products, Gmail, YouTube and so on, they're now signing-up for Google -- or at least a single set of terms (in most [...]

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US-based Consumer Watchdog is calling on the European Commission (EC) to block Google's $12.5 billion takeover of Motorola Mobility and wants Europe to pursue a formal antitrust complaint against Google. Citing marketshare data, the group's argument is that owning a handset maker would turn Google into an "unstoppable juggernaut" in mobile: Google’s Android smartphone operating system dominates the mobile market with a 38 percent share and is growing. Apple’s iPhone has 27 percent.  Google controls 95 percent of the mobile search market.  There is evidence it is pressuring handset manuf [...]

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According to a report in CNET, based on public filings with the US Senate Office of Public Records, Google spending on federal lobbying exceeded that of rival Microsoft in 2011. Google reportedly spent $9.7 million to Microsoft's $7.3 million in 2011. Some decry the increase in Google lobbying as hypocrisy because lobbying is inherently "evil" and Google pledged to "do no evil." In the scheme of things Google's $9.7 is still relatively modest. The top lobbying spender in 2011 was the truly evil US Chamber of Commerce at $46 million. Google isn't in the top 20. Here's the top 20 lobbying [...]

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According to a report in Reuters, this week the EU will offer a sweeping set of new rules that would dramatically impact how internet companies can use personal data. There would also be new penalties available for data breaches and rules violations. The article, based on a draft of the rules, says the proposed regulations include the problematic "right to be forgotten," which became an issue last year for Google in Spain. The proposed rules will be released this week. However to take effect they still must be ratified by member states, which could take up to two years (or more). If enacted [...]

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By all accounts, yesterday was a big and important day for the tech and online marketing industries. Hundreds of websites protested the SOPA & PIPA bills that are currently moving through the U.S. Congress by either going completely dark for the day or -- as we did here on Marketing Land and our sister site, Search Engine Land -- blackening a portion of our site and adding anti-SOPA/PIPA messaging to their home pages. Did it work? Well, the two bills are not dead, but they're certainly damaged. By Wednesday night, the Washington Post says that at least four co-sponsors dropped support o [...]

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According to Reuters European regulators are going to decide by the end of Q1 2012 (March) about the filing of a formal antitrust case against Google. Apparently this timing is much sooner than expected. The European investigation began a little more than a year ago in November 2010. The European Commission investigation arose out of formal anti-competition complaints filed by three companies: Foundem, eJustice and Ciao (owned by Microsoft). Since that time other companies have separately filed formal complaints, including Microsoft, bringing to total number to roughly 10 filings. In th [...]

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Google says it has apologized to Mocality, a local search directory in Kenya, for scraping Mocality's database of businesses and lying about its relationship with Mocality when contacting those businesses. Mocality laid out its evidence against Google in a blog post today, accusing Google of scraping its local business listings, contacting local businesses in an attempt to get them to sign-up to Google's "Getting Kenyan Businesses Online" program, and telling those businesses that Google and Mocality are working together -- which wasn't the case. Mocality investigated the IP addresses that [...]

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