The Watchdog Blog

Google search ad, what dat?

Super Bowl XLIV wasn't only a first for the New Orleans Saints, it was also a landmark for Internet giant, Google. ...

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Blue Cross's taste of what's to come if health reform fails

Those of us who have health insurance--or think we have health insurance--can get complacent about whether the nation needs that big, complicated health reform legislation. But just try getting sick. Is your insurance even real? If it is, can you afford it after the latest round of price hikes? Is your deductible so big that paying it will mean financial ruin? Check out these stories and think about what the White House and Congress, by wimping out again on health reform, will condemn all of us to...

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Chronicle reveals discrimination at Mercury Insurance, Soldiers targeted

In case all those ads about how great insurance companies are was starting to make you feel all fuzzy inside, Carla Marinucci at the San Francisco Chronicle just posted a revealing and disturbing look into the widespread discrimination at California's 3rd largest auto insurer, Mercury Insurance....

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DC Week in Review: All about banks

It was hard to get away from Wall Street in Washington this week. Former Citibank Chairman John Reed, free to speak his mind in retirement, endorsed an independent consumer agency in testimony before the Senate Banking panel on Thursday...

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Google asking spy agency for help

Google has apparently gone to the super secret National Security Agency seeking help in preventing cyber attacks.

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Two Congressmen ask Justice to scrutinize Google Books deal, government will comment on revised deal Thursday

Two Texas Congressmen have asked the U.S. of Justice to ensure that  the proposed Google Books Settlement not hurt minority publishers and small businesses. The department is scheduled to file its view of the amended settlement in federal court on Thursday.

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Oil Watchdog: Hot Fuel Fix in Deep Freeze

 

When a private club that is too cozy with corporations make the rules on consumer protection, guess what happens? The National Conference on Weights and Measures met last week voted to just dump years' worth of proposals and plans to fix the "hot fuel" ripoff.  It reminded me of the old Soviet trick of removing purged bureaucrats from ceremonial photos.

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Google's 5 principles pay lip service to privacy

Google decided to take note of International Data Privacy Day last week by publishing their five guiding privacy principles.  Here are the bullet points and there is ...

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Oil Watchdog: Who's Cooking Oil Prices?

 

The major oil companies all made less profit in 2009, but mostly because they could barely make a billion on refining and selling gasoline and diesel fuel, with demand running from down to stagnant. Yet they made plenty of billions on drilling and selling oil, which has more than doubled in price from around $30 a barrel (42 gallons) at the end of 2008 to around $75 a barrel on Monday. Yet global oil consumption was also down in 2009 from 2008, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Does this make any sense at all?

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Steve Jobs blasts Google's 'Don't be evil' motto

The tech blogosphere is buzzing with Apple CEO Steve Jobs' assessment of Google's...

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