{"id":141910,"date":"2014-11-13T15:39:48","date_gmt":"2014-11-13T15:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=141910"},"modified":"2014-11-13T15:39:48","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T15:39:48","slug":"googles-rapidly-expanding-political-activity-information-collection-systems-present-cause-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/googles-rapidly-expanding-political-activity-information-collection-systems-present-cause-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s Rapidly Expanding Political Activity and Information Collection Systems Present Cause for Concern"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"field field--name-field-subtitle field--type-text-long field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<p>Public Citizen Report Details Google\u2019s Ambitious Technological Expansions and Its Newfound Status as One of the Most Politically Active Companies in the U.S.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<p>WASHINGTON &#8211; Google is so rapidly expanding both its information-collecting capabilities and its political clout that it could become too powerful to be held accountable, a new Public Citizen <a href=\"http:\/\/qz.salsalabs.com\/dia\/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=mP4Kcknc8bzRO%2FlnjPFbO%2BMM6cDtFUdt\">report<\/a> finds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/qz.salsalabs.com\/dia\/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=FQuBNCYbdhuooOlAMOw1mOMM6cDtFUdt\">Mission Creep-y: Google Is Quietly Becoming One of the Nation\u2019s Most Powerful Political Forces While Expanding Its Information-Collection Empire<\/a>\u201d looks at the ways Google is accruing power both in terms of the information it collects about the public and the sway it has over federal and state governments, as well as civil society.<\/p>\n<p>Privacy experts say only the National Security Agency (NSA) rivals Google in terms of information gathering, and a recent survey showed that Americans are more concerned about companies like Google than the NSA. But Public Citizen documents that Google has not always warned the public before collecting or combining users\u2019 information in new ways \u2014 and some of its collection practices have pushed the boundaries of the law. This is cause for concern as Google expands into new technological developments and acquisitions that collect information beyond what people do on the Internet.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the company is amassing greater political power than ever. Having recently moved its influence operation into new Washington, D.C., offices as large as the White House, Google has become one of the most politically active companies in the U.S.:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Over the first three quarters of 2014, Google ranked first among all corporations in lobbying spending, according to OpenSecrets.org, and is on pace to spend $18.2 million on federal lobbying this year. In fact, it has spent $1 million more on lobbying than PhRMA, the powerful trade association of the pharmaceutical industry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Since 2012, no company has spent more money on federal lobbying than Google.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Of 102 lobbyists the company has hired or retained in 2014, 81 previously held government jobs. Meanwhile, a steady stream of Google employees has been appointed to high-ranking government jobs \u2014 an indication of the company\u2019s growing influence in national affairs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Google\u2019s political action committee (PAC) spent $1.61 million this year, according to Federal Election Commission records. That surpasses, for the first time, PAC expenditures by Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Google funds about 140 trade associations and other nonprofits across the ideological spectrum \u2014 including some working in issue areas relevant to Google\u2019s practices on privacy, political spending, antitrust and more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Google has come under scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission on several occasions, including racking up the commission\u2019s largest civil penalty ever, $22.5 million, in a settlement over Google bypassing Safari browser settings to track users.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cGoogle is becoming exponentially more powerful in federal and state governments. At the same time, it\u2019s pushing boundaries in technology, and it has shown that it can\u2019t always be trusted to do the right thing with people\u2019s information,\u201d said Sam Jewler, author of the report and communications officer for Public Citizen\u2019s U.S. Chamber Watch. \u201cWhen we see such massive influence, it raises the question, will regulators and lawmakers be reluctant to rein in Google?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile Google provides many popular and useful services to the world, its information-collection business model and its history of questionable practices indicate that, if left to its own devices, it may not always do what\u2019s best for the public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Google is expanding to amass new forms of information about all of us. While its market-leading search, Gmail and Android smart phone operating systems are well-known conduits through which Google collects information, the company is ambitiously expanding its technologies into the skies, onto people\u2019s bodies and into homes through numerous new ventures. Along with its ongoing development of potentially revolutionary new technologies such as Google Glass and self-driving cars, Google spent more money on acquisitions than Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and Yahoo! \u2014 combined \u2014 in 2012 and 2013. Meanwhile, Google has steadily adopted more permissive policies about collecting information about its customers, the report shows.<\/p>\n<p>In the report, Public Citizen describes how Google\u2019s mass collection of information makes it a treasure trove for agencies like the NSA \u2014 to which it is legally bound to comply with most information requests \u2014 and to hackers and rogue employees.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the new technologies Google has acquired include Skybox, which owns satellites that capture high-definition images and video around the planet multiple times per day; Nest and Dropcam, home devices that monitor things like temperature, energy usage, proximity of the owner to the house, and take video in the home; and Emu, which could be used to monitor and advertise in online chats and text messages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoogle has essentially responded to concerns about its practices by saying \u2018just trust us,\u2019\u201d said Taylor Lincoln, research director of Public Citizen\u2019s Congress Watch division and editor of the report. \u201cBut Google is gaining so much power that regulators may find it difficult to act if it turns out that the public\u2019s trust has been misplaced.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A recent report by the Center for Political Accountability on the transparency of companies\u2019 political spending showed Google ranked as average among all companies, lagging behind some of its biggest technology sector peers. The company has faced calls from shareholders for it to be more transparent. It also does not meet transparency standards set by technology companies like Microsoft, such as disclosing how much money it gives to third-party groups such as the 140 nonprofits and trade associations it supports, using transparent corporate oversight to make political spending decisions, or disclosing information about its state lobbying spending.<\/p>\n<p>Google recently withdrew from the American Legislative Exchange Council (better known by its acronym ALEC) over differences on climate change. But Google continues to provide unknown amounts of funding to major dark money groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which also diverges from Google on energy issues.<\/p>\n<p>See Public Citizen\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/qz.salsalabs.com\/dia\/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=eUuRySyMBUN3InVxBMPc3eMM6cDtFUdt\">petition<\/a> calling on Google to leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/qz.salsalabs.com\/dia\/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=5U7NohG9H8lCSoPUPlr1q4%2Ftw0sHoXAo\">Read the report.<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"newswire-end\">###<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"field-wrapper-org-profile\" class=\"field-wrapper content-container clearfix\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-desc field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<p>Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-org-website field--type-link-field field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.citizen.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Public Citizen<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-pressmedia-link field--type-link-field field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.citizen.org\/pressroom\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Public Citizen (Press Center)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-action-link field--type-link-field field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.citizen.org\/action\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Public Citizen (Action Center)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Public Citizen Report Details Google\u2019s Ambitious Technological Expansions and Its Newfound Status as One of the Most Politically Active Companies in the U.S. WASHINGTON &#8211; Google is so rapidly expanding both its information-collecting capabilities and its political clout that it could become too powerful to be held accountable, a new Public Citizen report finds. \u201cMission [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,1614],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-141910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-surveillance-big-brother"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}