Consumer Watchdog is attacking Google in a very public way — with a Jumbotron digital advertisement in New York’s Times Square. The missive comes in the form of an animated satirical video that portrays how the group sees Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s stance on consumer privacy.
Entitled Don’t Be Evil? the avatar-style animation features Schmidt driving an ice-cream truck and secretly spying on children. Consumer Watchdog produced the animated short in hopes of enticing Congress to enact a national Do Not Track Me list.
“We’re satirizing Schmidt in the most highly trafficked public square in the nation to make the public aware of how out of touch Schmidt and Google are when it comes to our privacy rights,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. “America needs a Do Not Track Me list, and Google is Exhibit A in the case for it.”
Do Not Track Me
As Consumer Watchdog sees it, Google’s recent actions reveal that the Internet giant, whose motto is “Don’t be evil,” has lost its way. The group argues that Google has collected massive amounts of personal data from Wi-Fi networks through its Street View cars, made private Gmail contacts publicly available on Buzz, and done a complete about-face on Net neutrality, joining with Verizon in calling for toll lanes on the Internet.
“We think there should be another way to protect the public’s online privacy: A Do Not Track Me list that prevents Google or any other Internet company from tracking your every move online,” said John Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Inside Google Project.
Consumer Watchdog argues that a Do Not Track Me list would prevent online companies from gathering personal information, just as Congress had the Federal Trade Commission create a Do Not Call list to prevent intrusive telemarketers from invading consumers’ privacy.
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