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Blog Post
5/16/2013
By John M. Simpson
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-chairman is conservative Joe Barton, (R-TX), says, "As members of the Congressional Bipartisan...
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Blog Post
5/3/2013
Kathy Olsen, Special to Consumer Watchdog
Since 1975 the value of everything has gone up, except the value of my son’s life under California law.
Yesterday 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 join our efforts by...
Blog Post
5/1/2013
By John M. Simpson
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...
Blog Post
4/26/2013
Carmen Balber
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-...
Blog Post
4/23/2013
By John M. Simpson
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...
Blog Post
4/22/2013
By Liza Tucker
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...
Blog Post
4/21/2013
By Jamie Court
The New York Times report today that the Koch brothers have moved closer to purchasing The Los Angeles Times sent shivers through Angelenos like me who cling to Thomas Jefferson’s admonition about the importance of the freedom of the press.
"The only security of all is in a free press,” Jefferson wrote to Lafayette in 1823...
Blog Post
4/18/2013
By John M. Simpson
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...
Blog Post
4/15/2013
By John M. Simpson
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...
Blog Post
4/12/2013
By Jamie Court
Last month, at an emotional hearing in Sacramento and on the op-ed page of the San Francisco Chronicle, 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...
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