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Facebook, Google Donate Heavily To Privacy Advocacy Groups (bloomberglaw.com) 30

Few companies have more riding on proposed privacy legislation than Alphabet's Google and Facebook. To try to steer the bill their way, the giant advertising technology companies spend millions of dollars to lobby each year, a fact confirmed by government filings. From a report: Not so well-documented is spending to support highly influential think tanks and public interest groups that are helping shape the privacy debate, ostensibly as independent observers. Bloomberg Law examined seven prominent nonprofit think tanks that work on privacy issues that received a total of $1.5 million over a 18-month period ending Dec. 31, 2018. The groups included such organizations as the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Future of Privacy Forum and the Brookings Institution. The actual total is undoubtedly much higher -- exact totals for contributions were difficult to pin down. The tech giants have "funded scores of nonprofits, including consumer and privacy groups, and academics," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director at the Center for Digital Democracy, a public interest group that does not accept donations from Google or Facebook. Further, he says, their influence is strong. The companies have "opposed federal privacy laws and worked to weaken existing safeguards," Chester said. Accepting donations from these "privacy-killing companies enable them to influence decisions by nonprofits, even subtly," he said.
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Facebook, Google Donate Heavily To Privacy Advocacy Groups

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  • by jfdavis668 ( 1414919 ) on Monday November 18, 2019 @10:33AM (#59426342)
    I donate to Piracy Advocacy Groups.
    • i have mod points and I'd use them if I wasn't planning on posting a comment in this subject, so please accept a 'virtual' +1 in it's stead.
  • by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Monday November 18, 2019 @10:37AM (#59426364) Journal

    Post Christian Sinner attempt to purchase indulgences..film at 11

    • They're trying to guide "privacy" in increase their monopoly on data.

      Consider Google's support for DNS-over-HTTPS (to google servers, of course). Disguised as a "privacy from your ISP", it's really a way for google to increase their monopoly on your browsing behavior.

      Next they'll lobby for laws saying "every company with user data needs to have a $1,000,000 budget for a chief privacy legal team"; and "only companies who are members of the internet privacy association are allowed to have PII data"; lockin

  • by Anonymous Coward
    Since when was the Brookings Institute considered a privacy advocacy group?
    • It is sort of like the Clinton Foundation being called a Humanitarian Organization. They are called whatever they want you to think they are.

  • Circular (Score:3, Insightful)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Monday November 18, 2019 @10:48AM (#59426408) Homepage Journal

    They're 2/3 of the big privacy offenders. Why don't they just donate some privacy, and cut out the middleman? Oh yeah, because they're only trying to look like they care.

    • Re:Circular (Score:4, Insightful)

      by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Monday November 18, 2019 @10:59AM (#59426448) Homepage Journal

      No. Quite the opposite. These "think tanks" are actively lobbying to STOP privacy laws. Most "think tanks" are doing the complete opposite of what their names are. For example, if you ever see a think tank with a title "Consumer Advocacy" you can be assured it isn't being funded for the consumer. Likewise anything that says "Public" in it, isn't. All "think tanks" are lobbying organizations that are paid for by private money. They aren't doing it for fun. That is why whenever you see the media bleating about some "study" by a "think tank" you can be assured it is complete, utter, crap. And ALL of these "think tanks" are located in Washington DC within a few block radius.

      • by GrahamJ ( 241784 )

        Bingo. It's sad because in theory having expert groups advising politicians should be a way to ensure decisions are made based on facts. Of course in reality greed ensures decisions are sold to the higher bidder.

      • by Anonymous Coward
        Yeah sure because there's no possibilty in this world that anyone could possibly have an organization that works in the public interest and not to line their own pockets or be bootlickers of big corporations. How about you post proof that these organizations they're contributing money to are bad instead of just posting your clearly biased opinions?
        • How about you post proof that these organizations they're contributing money to are bad

          You know what's not what I said, right? Maybe you should learn2read

  • by oh_my_080980980 ( 773867 ) on Monday November 18, 2019 @11:22AM (#59426576)
    So where's the asshole who posted defending Google over the Chest X-Ray fiasco. Yeah Google really wants to protect your piracy. Jackass.

    FTA:

    The companies have "opposed federal privacy laws and worked to weaken existing safeguards,"

    Executives from both companies have testified that they want Congress to preempt states because of a potential surge in local laws—often with more privacy protections than a federal bill will garner. They do support some new consumer rights, like the ability to transfer data between companies, but that could help Facebook and Google get a larger share of user data. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/... [bloomberglaw.com]
  • These companies exist to vacuum up as much data about people as they possibly can, then they sell it to anyone with a checkbook.

    Vampires will be vampires...

    m
  • by jwymanm ( 627857 ) on Monday November 18, 2019 @11:41AM (#59426644) Homepage
    For some reason I believe they want privacy regulation. On one hand it stops the madness of governments/lawyers going after them 24/7/365 and on the other hand it shuts out smaller competitors. It also slows the anti Google/Facebook brigade.
    • Re:Cynical (Score:4, Interesting)

      by geek ( 5680 ) on Monday November 18, 2019 @11:47AM (#59426652)

      For some reason I believe they want privacy regulation. On one hand it stops the madness of governments/lawyers going after them 24/7/365 and on the other hand it shuts out smaller competitors. It also slows the anti Google/Facebook brigade.

      It's good PR but only because people don't grasp what it means. They are hoping to get the advocacy group drunk on tech money so they can control the narrative. If Facebook/Google etc really wanted to do good here they would invite the advocacy group in and push for certifications without the sugar daddy cash flow.

      Donations are all too often just pay offs. Without a documented process and certification assuring some sort of standards and compliance then it's meaningless.

  • These guys are to privacy as the NSA are to security.

  • "Donate" really means "lobby". It just sounds more altruistic, when they're only trying to leverage some control over them.

  • If they really are 'privacy advocacy groups' then they should refuse the 'donations' as tainted money that would taint them, and issue press releases to that effect.
  • Clearly a feel good, useless diversionary tactic that's 100% useless without transparency.

  • for their ads from ad blocking software.
    Better encryption... for their ads..

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