We believe that Google’s response to our amended complaint to the FTC illustrates a problem with the interactive online advertising market leader: it can’t own up to concerns about protecting individual privacy. In a statement released to reporters yesterday, as noted by the San Francisco Chronicle, Google said that:
(Electronic Privacy Information Center) and other critics have so far failed to identify any practice that does not comply with accepted privacy standards, and their complaints are unsupported by the facts and the law. Google aggressively protects user privacy, and user trust is central to Google’s values and essential to the success of our products.”
Google went on to say that it has discussed privacy issues with several groups, but that the center has so far refused its invitations. The only conclusion, Google said, is that the organization “would prefer not to be informed about the erroneous claims it is making.”
We urge people to read our complaint (PDF) and then ask: why isn’t Google owning up to these issues? Why isn’t Google admitting that current U.S. online privacy safeguards are weak, vague and arcane? Why can’t Google say that the current privacy regime for consumer protection is really `window dressing.’ More to the point, why is Google failing to engage in candor. Isn’t the take-over of the country’s leading online ad firm utilizing profiling technologies–Doubleclick–cause for legitimate concern, debate, and the enactment of meaningful safeguards? Is the failure to admit to the problem due to Google’s earnings being 99% driven from online advertising and data collection?
We think Google’s silence on this question underscores why our work to have Google’s proposed take-over of Doubleclick properly vetted by policymakers and the public is so important.
