Consumer Watchdog | Corporateering

Chancellor Hired Lobbyists In No-Bid Deals

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:37:00 PDT

California State University Chancellor Charles Reed has retained high-priced lobbyists without competitive bidding, even though CSU has a Sacramento office where it runs a $1.1 million-a-year, in-house lobbying unit whose state employees monitor CSU-related bills and follow state budget hearings. "The CSU has been particularly aggressive about pursuing this style of privately influencing government," said Dan Heller, executive director of Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit organization that monitors state politics. "The state university system is paying high-priced lobbyists to trade on their political influence in Sacramento. At the end of the day, that's not good for our public school system. Private interests win out."

Justice Is Probing Google's Book Deal

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:15:00 PDT

The Justice Department on Thursday said it had launched a formal antitrust investigation into the proposed settlement over the Google Inc. project to scan millions of books into a digital format. In recent months, a number of parties have objected to the settlement, including Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica, the American Library Assn. and the Internet Archive, a nonprofit organization that seeks to digitize public domain books and make them freely available online. Many of the objections involve concerns that Google would create a monopoly on digital books.

DOJ letter shows Google anti-trust probe is serious

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:41:00 PDT

The U.S. Justice Department is serious about probing the Google Books settlement for possible anti-trust violations. Consumer Watchdog was one of the first organizations to ask the department to investigate.

Suit Alleges California Lets Insurers Deny Treatment For Autistic Kids

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:23:00 PDT

A nonprofit consumer group has filed a lawsuit against state regulators alleging they allow insurance companies to deny necessary but expensive treatment for autistic children in violation of state law. Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog filed the lawsuit against the California Department of Managed Health Care Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Mercury General Using Guise Of Benevolence To Assault Prop. 103

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:17:00 PDT

...one should wonder why Mercury, which is already one of the leading insurers in the state, would spend heavily to make its home market more competitive. I'm inclined to think the company has something else on its mind, and I'd bet that giving customers a break isn't it. Forewarned is forearmed: Hang on to your wallets.

Google Makes a Case That It Isn't So Big

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:26:00 PDT

Eyes are rolling, especially in reaction to the idea that Google is a relatively small player in a giant market. “They describe where they are in a market under a kind of a fairy-tale spun gloss that doesn’t reflect their dominance of key sectors,” said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “Google search is an absolute must-have for every marketer in the world.”

Treasury, GM Close to Reaching Deal on Legal Claims -- Accident Victims, Dealers at Issue

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:01:00 PDT

"It's hard for me to comprehend why, when taxpayers are funding so much of the transition, and we're making specific choices about who gets money, that there's no money for these accident victims," said Douglas Heller, executive director of Consumer Watchdog. He expressed outrage that GM is requesting court approval to pay more than $100 million to its financial advisers, Evercore Partners, a New York boutique investment bank headed by former deputy Treasury secretary Roger Altman, and AlixPartners, a turnaround consultancy.

Thanks for the bailout, suckers

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:54:00 PDT

The big banks just launched a supposedly 'grass-roots' campaign to try and rehabilitate their image.

Said Americans United for Change today: “What are they going to call it? The ‘Thanks for the Bailout, Suckers - Now Quit Whining’ Tour?”

Consumer Watchdog To Obama: No "Cash For Clunkers" Without Compensation For GM Victims

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:31:00 PDT

Washington, DC -- Consumer Watchdog called upon President Obama to prioritize the purchase of an insurance policy for victims of defective GM vehicles in the company’s bankruptcy given his support for the “cash-for-clunkers” program.

Hill Mulls Online Privacy Rules -- And Which Agency Would Oversee

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:33:00 PDT

Consumer groups want rules requiring a standard disclosure and opt-in form, a ban on tracking information on a consumer's health, sexual orientation and financial condition and a "do-not-track" registry that would enable people to declare they don't want to be tracked, according to a written statement from the Consumer Federation of America. That group, the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Watchdog and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse have agreed on the principles and are urging policymakers to adopt them. Allowing industry to self-regulate won't work, they say, because most companies rely on "opt-out" mechanisms that are hidden from consumers. And the FTC's principles for behavioral advertising "don't provide a basis for action to stop abuses," the statement said.

DC Dispatch: Health insurance cancellations

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:21:14 PDT

Most of us don't sit around waiting to catch our health insurance company in the act of being evil. And 99.99% of Americans did not tune in to the congressional hearing I attended on Tuesday when

DC Dispatch: Reining in mortgage, bank account and credit card abuses

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:13:00 PDT

The administration releases its financial reform plan in just a few minutes (download it here.) The devil will, of course, be in the details, but it’s a good start on one crucial piece for consumers - making financial products safer...

Consumer Watchdog Praises Google For Considering New E-mail Security But Asks Why It Took Internet Giant So Long To Act To Protect Users

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:59:00 PDT

Santa Monica, CA -- Google should be praised for agreeing to offer improved security for users of its online services like Gmail, Consumer Watchdog said today, but the non-partisan, non-profit consumer group asked why the the company waited so long to act.

DC Dispatch: Busting the banks - a real voice for reform

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:51:00 PDT

It’s time the financial industry stopped calling the shots in Washington. That’s why Consumer Watchdog has joined a broad coalition of reformers -- calling on Congress and the administration to rein in Wall Street greed and protect the financial future of real Americans...

Google Praised For Agreeing To Improve E-mail Security

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:10:00 PDT

Consumer Watchdog praised Google on Tuesday for agreeing to offer improved security for users of its online e-mail services like Gmail.

No Solidarity For Labor

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:02:16 PDT

SEIU head Andrew Stern dismisses the idea that the infighting is derailing labor's progress in Washington. It's a sign of union strength, he argues, that discussions on card check continue. "No other bill could have withstood this kind of opposition and still survived," he says. Still, labor supporters like Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group, are worried. "Any time you have labor fighting, it gives politicians an excuse to buy big business' argument," he says.

Google Says It Loves Competition

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:23:00 PDT

With Justice Department scrutiny over the Google Books Settlement only the the leading edge of antitrust regulators’ attention to Google, the company has launched a dog-and-pony show dedicated to combating the impression that more control is needed. In a presentation (PDF) acquired by Consumer Watchdog, Google public affairs lead Adam Kovacevich argued that Google is anything but anti-competitive. Its success comes from “learning by doing,” the presentation says.

Google Polishes Competition Charm Offensive

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:35:00 PDT

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Google continued to lay the groundwork Wednesday for an antitrust defense in the event that the federal government decides to take a formal look at its core business. Inside a conference room in Google's San Francisco office, executives ran through essentially the same presentation leaked last month by the consumer activist group Consumer Watchdog, focusing most of their efforts on trying to paint a picture of Google as just one part of a large Internet ecosystem, as opposed to a dominant search giant.

Reports: DOJ Turns Up The Heat On Google's Book Deal

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:14:00 PDT

The U.S. Department of Justice has stepped up its review of a deal that would settle a lawsuit publishers and authors filed against Google over the latter's book search engine, according to published reports. Consumer Watchdog has charged that the proposed settlement gives Google special protections against lawsuits over orphan works.

Google Receives Federal Request For Book Settlement Info

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:03:00 PDT

The U.S. Justice Department is reportedly investigating Google's digital books settlement with publishers, which Google claims will make millions of volumes accessible to all but which has critics crying antitrust issues. Google's books project has run into opposition from a number of groups, including Consumer Watchdog, arguing that it gives the search engine company too much control over content with little oversight.

Consumer Groups Challenge Obama's Appointment Of Google Executive

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:20:00 PDT

Two consumer groups are seeking to throw a roadblock in front of President Obama's pending appointment of Google's top global public policy official, arguing that it would violate Obama's ethics rules aimed at eliminating the influence of lobbyists on the federal government.

John M. Simpson, a consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog, said McLaughlin is good at what he does – "lobbying around the world for Google's interests," he said. "That's not what this job requires. It should not go to any person whose most recent position has been advocating policy for a technology company," he said.

TOSback: Keeping tabs on the Web's fine print

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:01:00 PDT

Among the most frustrating things about online services and Internet companies are the "terms of service" policies governing how the businessses interact with you and use your personal information.

Internet companies claim...

Insurer pals in Congress "cut and paste" industry demands

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:17:00 PDT

I'd rather trust Grandma's pearls to a guy with a mask and a crowbar than let insurance companies control national health reform. In Friday's New York Times, columnist Paul Krugman distills the case against these bandits. But conservative Democrats are still acting like health insurers are the solution, not the problem. And they're so lazy they can't even write their own ultimatums.

Obama Urged To Halt Google Government Takeover - Stop The Revolving Door

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:38:56 PDT

Two consumer watchdogs - including the aptly-named Consumer Watchdog - have urged US President Barack Obama to avoid appointing Google's director of global public policy as the country's deputy chief technology officer.

Google Lobbyist Unfit for Deputy CTO Job, Say Critics

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:32:00 PDT

President Obama reportedly is poised to name Andrew McLaughlin, a former Google executive, as U.S. deputy CTO. The choice rankles the heads of two advocacy groups, who maintain that McLaughlin's work as a lobbyist on behalf of Google makes him unsuitable for the government policy development role.