New Google blog airs public policy plans
49675
Blog: Barely two years ago, the search giant had a public policy team of one. Now angling for ever broader influence, it unveils a new spot for publicizing its goals and gleaning feedback.
726416
(InfoWorld) - GoogleÂ has launched a blog focused on U.S. government legislation and regulation, one sign of the company's growing interest in Washington, D.C., affairs. The blog is part of Google's efforts to step up its focus on the U.S. government since early 2005. Last year, it was one of the leading Web-based companiesÂ calling on Congress to pass net neutrality rulesÂ that would prohibit broadband carriers from blocking or slowing Web content offered by their competitors. This year, Google has joined a debate on how the U.S. Federal Communications Commission should auction 60MHz of spectrum in the 700MHz band being vacated by U.S. television stations. Google has called on the FCC toÂ open up biddingÂ to small companies through real-time auctions and designate a chunk of the spectrum for wireless broadband services. Google is also focused on issues such as privacy and copyright protection, said a post on the blog Monday. Google launched the blog internally two months ago but opened it to the public Monday. Google has recentlyÂ complained to the U.S. Department of JusticeÂ about what it sees as antitrust violations in Microsoft's Vista operating system. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission in May also began investigating Google's proposedÂ $3.1 billion purchaseÂ of online advertising seller DoubleClick. Google now has eight senior policy and public relations employees and four support employees in Washington, compared to just one public policy staffer in early 2005. "We're seeking to do public policy advocacy in a Googley way," Andrew McLaughlin, Google's director of public policy and government affairs, wrote on the blog. "We want our users to be part of the effort, to know what we're saying and why, and to help us refine and improve our policy positions and advocacy strategies. With input and ideas from our users, we'll surely do a better job of fighting for our common interests. "This blog is part of the dialogue we're hoping to foster."
349932
Tabby 'wants to be alone' Google has raised fresh privacy concerns in the US, thanks to its new Street View service on its maps. It is apparently not enough that the advertising broker would like to find your next job for you, or tell you what you might want to do at the weekend, now it wants to peer into your living rooms.â¦
506783
As a literary reporter, I spend most of my waking hours tracking people down and trying to connect the dots. Which is to say, Iâm a Google addict. In recent years, tons of ink has been spilled about Google â as a business model, as an intellectual phenomenon and as a way of reflecting on [...].
361062
The Conservative Party is hoping to harness the power of the Internet to attract younger, disaffected voters into mainstream politics with the launch of a new blogsite.
240726
The net is buzzing with rumours that Google is working on a web browser. Online journals, or weblogs, have put together a series of developments which suggest that the search engine is developing new web tools.
203087
I&#8217;m playing the devil&#8217;s advocate here, so keep that in mind in case I end up trampling all over anything you hold dear :) Google has taken a lot of flak on a lot of issues in the past few years - it&#8217;s a price an industry leader invariably has to pay.  Apart from Blogger spam [...]
396180
GoogleÂ is testing a new advertising format that it hopes will make people spend more time looking at ads online, and even embed them in their own Web sites.
654004
Google executives are taking a proactive stance when it comes to issues under consideration by U.S. lawmakers that could affect the Internet search engine.
105528
Psychiatric help and vegetables included Google owes its success to putting advertising into parts of our lives where no one has ever put adverts before. Now a new patent illustrates the extent of its ambitions.â¦
253899
Google's Knol project aims to make online information easier to find and more authoritative.
592960
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;
162885
Google will introduce a new feature that lets users create personalized maps which plot the locations of everything from cheap gas locally to the latest earthquakes worldwide.
326939
Blog: Google says it shows Sicko to employees and offers good health plans after being criticized for corporate blog blasting Michael Moore's "Sicko" movie
362049
InfoWorld - Google&#160;has launched a blog focused on U.S. government legislation and regulation, one sign of the company&#39;s growing interest in Washington, D.C., affairs.
20195
Imagine being able to check instantly  whether or not statements made by politicians were correct.  That is the sort of service Google Inc.  boss Eric  Schmidt believes the Internet will offer within five years.
687609
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.