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Advocacy Group Calls for Investigation of Google's 'Secret' NSA Relationships

by Amar Toor on January 27, 2011 at 01:35 PM

nsa logoA consumer-advocacy group is urging Congress to investigate what it calls a suspiciously "cozy" relationship between Google and the Obama administration.

In a letter (PDF) sent to Representative Darrell Issa, Consumer Watchdog asked the Republican to hold a congressional investigation into contracts that governmental agencies have signed with Google, as well as the NSA's "secretive" relationship with the company. The group went on to claim that the government took "insufficient" action after Google admitted to inadvertently collecting personal data from Wi-Fi networks with its Street View cars -- an incident that Consumer Watchdog called "the largest wire tapping scandal in world history."

"We believe Google has inappropriately benefited from close ties to the administration," the letter reads. "Google is most consumers' gateway to the Internet. Nonetheless, it should not get special treatment and access because of a special relationship with the administration." Issa, the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, expressed similar sentiments in a letter he wrote to Google, back in July. In the letter, Issa raised concerns over the relationship between the company and White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin, a former Google employee.

Google seems unfazed by the allegations, and openly questions the objectivity of Consumer Watchdog's claims. "This is just the latest in a long list of press stunts from an organization that admits to working closely with our competitors," a company spokeswoman said. Although Consumer Watchdog denies having any financial connection to competitors like Microsoft, it's clear that the group has devoted disproportional attention to its anti-Google campaign.

In April, the organization publicly called for the Justice Department to break up the company, and, in September, it plastered a giant anti-Google ad in the middle of Times Square. But James Simpson, a consumer advocate within the organization, insists that Consumer Watchdog is only focusing on Google, because the company plays such an integral role in the lives of so many Internet users. "Google's held itself to be the company that says its motto is, 'don't be evil,' and they also advocate openness for everyone else," Simpson told PC World. "We're trying to hold them to their own word."

Tags: congress, ConsumerWatchdog, DarrellIssa, google, investigation, nsa, ObamaAdministration, politics, top

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