Policy group says Google soft on piracy
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Hoping to see &quot;Blood  Diamond,&quot; &quot;Spider-Man 3&quot; or other full-length movies, TV series  and concerts for free online? The National Legal and Policy  Center on Tuesday released a list of the top 50 videos it found  on the Google Video search engine, uploaded by Web users who  might be guilty of copyright infringement.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. government still needs to block or impose conditions on Google's acquisition of online advertising server DoubleClick, despite Google's call for global privacy standards, three privacy groups said Monday. Google last Friday called for a global privacy standard, and the company referred to a framework designed by Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). But the APEC standard is "weak," Melissa Ngo, director of the Identification and Surveillance Project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), said during a press conference Monday. The APEC standard "puts the burden on consumers to prove they are being harmed," she said. Google's call for a global privacy standardÂ does not allay concerns that privacy groups have withÂ Google's proposed $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick, said Amina Fazlullah, staff attorney with consumer group U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG). Consolidation in the online advertising market could lead to more demand for consumers' private information, Fazlullah said. In addition, Web sites will have few choices for which vendors to deliver their ads, she said. "The resulting Google company will have a lot of control over what we can actually see, read, and hear about online," Fazlullah said. "That is definitely problematic for consumers, but also for greater democratic concerns." A Google spokesman said the APEC privacy standard is just one model the company has pointed to. Google also supports the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's town hall meeting on the evolving online advertising market, to be held in early November, spokesman Adam Kovacevich said. EPIC's complaints about Google's privacy policies are "unsupported by the facts and the law," Google added in a statement. "Google aggressively protects user privacy, and user trust is central to Google's values and essential to the success of our products," Google said. "We have engaged with numerous privacy and consumer advocates to discuss and explain our acquisition of DoubleClick, but unfortunately EPIC has refused every offer we have made to meet with them. We can only conclude that EPIC would prefer not to be informed about the erroneous claims it is making." But the privacy groups said Google continues to collect a "massive" amount of data about users. "There is no greater threat to competition in the online market and also a threat to privacy than the Google/DoubleClick merger," said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. Combining Google's search dominance with DoubleClick's display advertising dominance "will give Google an overwhelming share of control of the online advertising market," he added.
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When it comes to protecting the privacy of its users, Google Inc. ranks worse than any other Internet company, according to an interim report by Privacy International. The international watchdog group also accused Google of engaging in a smear campaign in response to its findings, and demanded an apology.
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Google's informal corporate motto is "Don't be evil" but the search engine provider isn't viewed as particularly nice by a growing list of companies that claim Google is misusing their trademarks and, in so doing, hurting their businesses.
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Web search leader Google Inc.'s   commitment to consumer privacy came under fire from  Privacy International, a British activist group that has  previously singled out Google for criticism.
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Search giant's CEO didn't address Googe's role, but says the Net boosts government transparency.
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By Elise AckermanSTAFF  Google Inc. is set to start filtering videos and other content on YouTube for copyrighted materials, taking a key step in helping the online video-sharing site comply with one of the biggest complaints it faces -- rampant piracy.
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By MICHAEL LIEDTKE  SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc.'s privacy practices are the worst among the Internet's top destinations, according to a watchdog group seeking to intensify the recent focus on how the online search leader handles personal information about its users.
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Less than three weeks after Napster Inc. began touting its all-you-can-rent music subscription service, the company finds itself refuting Internet claims that its copy-protection measures are flawed.
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Google has responded to a U.S. congressman&#39;s series of questions about its privacy practices, with the company defending its use of consumer data.Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, sent a letter to Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt Dec. 12, after privacy groups raised questions about the implications of Google&#39;s US$3.1 billion acquisition of online ad server DoubleClick.During an earlier meeting with Schmidt, Barton had &quot;voiced concern regarding the potential consumer protection and privacy implications of the merger,&quot; Barton said in his letter. &quot;I believe Google&#39;s participation in our research into and consideration of the consumer protection implications of a merger of any online search engine and any behavioral or targeted advertising firms is vital to crafting sound national policy.&quot;In response to Barton&#39;s questions about the privacy implications of the merger, Google repeated its calls for Congress to pass a national privacy law that would create a &quot;uniform framework for privacy.&quot;&quot;Concerns about online privacy cannot be solved by one company alone,&quot; said the Google letter, by Alan Davidson, the company&#39;s head of U.S. public policy. &quot;Moreover, both technologies and best practices for protecting privacy are changing rapidly. We therefore encourage you and your staff to ask these questions of other providers of online services.&quot;Barton, ranking minority member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, had asked Google to respond to his letter before Dec. 18, about when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission was expected to complete its examination of the antitrust implications of the merger. Google&#39;s response was dated Friday, one day after the FTC announced it would not block the DoubleClick acquisition. Google hosted Barton&#39;s staff at its headquarters Wednesday and Thursday, however.The FTC approval is the last U.S. hurdle for the merger; the European Union is still reviewing it.Barton&#39;s letter asked several questions about Google&#39;s privacy practices, including how long Google retains search queries, e-mail drafted on Google&#39;s Gmail service and Web histories. Barton also asked why Google needed to retain data.The IP (Internet Protocol) addresses associated with search queries will be partially deleted after 18 months, as Google previously has announced, the letter said. In other services, such as Gmail and Google Web History, the privacy preferences are customized by individual users, the letter said.Google retains data about searches as a way to improve its search algorithms and to improve services such as the spell checking feature on Google search, the letter said. The company also uses the data to fight click fraud and other malicious efforts, the letter said.Barton also asked if Google plans to merge its consumer data with DoubleClick&#39;s after the merger. He asked what was the benefit of the merger if Google did not plan to merge data.&quot;We are new to the third-party display ad serving business, so we have not yet decided whether or how we would merge DoubleClick and Google data,&quot; Davidson&#39;s letter said.The merger would create &quot;numerous efficiencies&quot; not related to DoubleClick&#39;s data, Davidson added. &quot;Acquiring DoubleClick&#39;s expertise in display ad serving will assist Google in its efforts to design an integrated interface for advertisers to manage their texts and display advertising campaigns,&quot; the letter said. &quot;In addition, the acquisition will allow Google to provide advertisers with better metrics for the display ads the place in our advertising network.&quot;
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When it comes to lobbying, Google does not intend to repeat the mistake that its rival Microsoft made a decade ago.
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European data protection officials have written to Google warning that the search giant may be in breach of E.U. privacy because of the way it retains data on individual searches.
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Elements of Google's privacy policy are "vague", the firm's global privacy counsel tells BBC News.
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Advocacy group Privacy International says California-based Google ranks last among 12 major Internet-based companies when users' privacy is concerned.
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Google has been sharply criticised in a report looking at the privacy policies of popular net firms.
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(InfoWorld) - Google has formed a political action committee to exert pressure on the U.S. Congress and promote legislation that benefits the company. The group, called Google NetPAC, saw the light on Thursday, when Google registered it with the U.S. Federal Election Commission, a Google spokesman confirmed via e-mail. "Google NetPAC will support officeholders and candidates who share Google's goal of preserving and promoting the Internet as a free and open platform for information, communication, and innovation," the spokesman wrote. A key legislative and regulatoryÂ concern for Google is net neutrality. Its executives favor a law to force broadband providers like AT&T and Comcast to give all traffic on their networks the same quality of service and speed. In addition to Google, other Internet companies like Yahoo, eBay, and Amazon.com support net neutrality andÂ want Congress to prohibit broadband providersÂ from blocking or degrading Web content and services from potential competitors. Opponents, which include broadband providers and network equipment vendors like Cisco Systems and Qualcomm, say a net neutrality law will let Internet companies like Google continue toÂ ride for "free"Â on broadband networks. Such a law will prevent broadband providers from charging Web companies new fees for higher speeds and a better quality of service, money needed to build faster networks for new bandwidth-intensive services like Internet TV, net neutrality opponents say. If companies like Google don't pay extra, then broadband providers will have to increase fees to consumers, they say. Other regulatory and legislative issues that are likely of concern for Google include Internet privacy, stock-option accounting, law-enforcement access to search engine records and copyright protection. Google also hired former Republican senators Dan Coats and Connie Mack as outside lobbyists, the Google spokesman confirmed. "We've hired outside firms from across the political spectrum that offer effective expertise to communicate our policy messages," he wrote. Other high-tech companies with political action committees include Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon.com, eBay and AOL's parent company Time Warner.
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With the EU crafting new laws governing how data collectors such as Google protect users' personal data, lawmakers there are clashing with US business leaders over how far that protection can and should extend.