Google Dashboard Is Small Step for User Control, Consumer Watchdog Says

Group Calls for 'Make-Me-Anonymous' Button On Home Page

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The new Google
Dashboard touted by the Internet giant as offering users "transparency, choice
and control" of user data stored by the company doesn't give consumers
adequate control over protecting their information from Google's marketing
machine, Consumer Watchdog said today.

Consumer Watchdog applauded the company for giving consumers a single place to
go to manage data, but said Google needed to give consumers the ability to
stop being tracked by the company and to delete information associated with
their computer's IP address from the Google servers.

"If Google really wanted to give users control over their privacy it would
give consumers the ability to be anonymous from the company and its
advertisers in crucial areas such as search data and online behavior," said
John M. Simpson, consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog. "The Dashboard
gives the appearance of control without the actual ability to prevent Google
from tracking you and delivering you to its marketers."

"What the Dashboard does is list all the information linked directly to your
name, but what it doesn't do is let you know and control the data directly
tied to your computer's IP address, which is Google's black box and data
mine," said Simpson "Google isn't truly protecting privacy until it lets you
control that information."

Consumer Watchdog said Google should offer a simple "Make-me-anonymous" or
"Don't track" button or icon on its home page, or at the very least in its
Dashboard, that would prevent search information from being logged at the
choice of the user.

"Google is maximizing the PR value of this feature in response to critics who
have demanded online privacy guarantees," said Simpson. "They are letting a
little light shine into the black box that is Google, but to claim that this
is transparency is absurd."

The new feature does give users an eye-opening look at how much data Google
collects. But Google still gives no explanation of how it uses the data it has
accumulated. Moreover, Dashboard does not give the user any ability prevent
search information from being logged or to prevent Google from tracking a
user's online activity while surfing the web, said the nonprofit, nonpartisan
Consumer Watchdog.

After signing into a Google account from the Google home page a user is able
to access the Dashboard through the account's settings function. Clicking on
link "View data stored with this account" next to the heading "Dashboard" asks
for password verification and then displays a page with the various Google
services like Gmail, Docs and Picasa. It shows what information is stored with
the services listed and gives links to manage the data and various privacy
settings for the service.

The group also said that the Dashboard, though useful, is not easy to find.

"If they want people to use this, why isn't there a direct link from the home
page?" asked Simpson. "In other contexts Google likes to say competition is
one click away. They've buried the Dashboard. The extra password verification
is a good security measure, but why can't you get there with one click from a
Dashboard link on the home page?"

Consumer Watchdog, formerly the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer advocacy organization with offices in
Washington, DC and Santa Monica, CA. Our website is www.ConsumerWatchdog.org

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog

John M. Simpson of Consumer Watchdog, +1-310-392-0522, ext 317; Cell:
+1-310-292-1902