Earlier, news spread quickly that Google was caught bypassing Apple’s privacy settings to track iOS users with mobile Safari. Not surprisingly, the top Consumer Watchdog thinks Google is deceiving users with these questionable practices and has asked the FTC to investigate.
“Google has clearly engaged in ‘unfair and deceptive’ practices,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director. “They have been lying about how people can protect their privacy in their instructions about how to opt out of receiving targeted advertising.”
The weird things is, Simpson built up all of this vitriol toward the search giant over what The Wall Street Journal had wrote, making their words iron clad. The Consumer Watch Dog also went on to say once Google was first confronted about these shady Safari practices, the company changed its advice page, removing the specific references to Safari. “Clearly Google knows that it was in the wrong,” Consumer Watchdog said.
No one knows where this will end up, chances are it could turn into some sort of hearing in front of a dozen or so congressmen and women. That said, I agree with our own Marin Perez when he says “the Journal is being a bit sensationalistic with this one.” The Journal has strong beliefs when it comes to cookies, as the newspaper thinks it’s a privacy violation — so its motivation on this story is clear.

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