Google faces mounting pressure from Congress over Google+ privacy flaw

[steven36]

Yesterday, the lawmakers’ Democratic counterparts requested an FTC investigation into the vulnerability

 

 

Republican leaders from the Senate Commerce Committee are demanding answers from Google CEO Sundar Pichai about a recently unveiled Google+ vulnerability, requesting the company’s internal communications regarding the issue in a letter today.

 

This past March, Google had discovered a flaw in its Google+ API that had the potential to expose the private information of hundreds of thousands of users. In the internal memo first obtained by The Wall Street Journal, officials at Google opted not to disclose the vulnerability to its users or the public for fear of bad press and potential regulatory action. Now, lawmakers are asking to see those communications firsthand.

 

“As the Senate Commerce Committee works toward legislation that establishes a nationwide privacy framework to protect consumer data, improving transparency will be an essential pillar of the effort to restore Americans’ faith in the services they use,” the lawmakers wrote. “It is for this reason that the reported contents of Google’s internal memo are so troubling.”

On Wednesday, some of the senators’ Democratic counterparts on the committee reached out to the Federal Trade Commission to demand that the agency investigate the Google+ security flaw, saying in a letter that if agency officials discover “problematic conduct, we encourage you to act decisively to end this pattern of behavior through substantial financial penalties and strong legal remedies.”

 

The Google+ privacy flaw comes amid a heated debate over consumer data privacy kicked off by Facebook’s ongoing Cambridge Analytica scandal. Over the past few weeks, lawmakers have repeatedly heard from tech executives, policy heads, and advocates on how to craft an overarching federal privacy bill. Pichai has stayed away from those discussions, even leaving the company’s seat vacant at a recent Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in which executives from Facebook and Twitter faced off with lawmakers.

 

At the same time, some senators are expressing a new openness to anti-monopoly action against modern tech companies like Google. In an interview published today in The Atlantic, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) expressed concern that both Google and Facebook may be too large for effective competitors to emerge. “Is there ever an ability to really break up their market dominance?” Warner said. “Even if you’ve got a better app, you can never match them on data”

 

By sending these letters and requesting investigations, Congress is beginning to take what they’ve heard in hearings to start to take action on behalf of consumers.

 

“Particularly in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica controversy, consumers’ trust in the companies that operate those services to keep their private data secure has been shaken,” today’s letter reads. “At the same time that Facebook was learning the important lesson that tech firms must be forthright with the public about privacy issues, Google apparently elected to withhold information about a relevant vulnerability for fear of public scrutiny.”

 

Google has until October 30th to respond to the senators’ inquiries, just weeks before Pichai is scheduled to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee following the November midterm elections. An exact date for that hearing has yet to be announced.

 

Source

[banned]

The NSA in America probably wishes they had the power of Google. Or maybe they're one in the same as conspiracy theorists suggest. Privacy is nobody's concern anyway. Install the app and forget about it.

 

 

[steven36]

4 hours ago, banned said:

The NSA in America probably wishes they had the power of Google.

They already do , I just watched a member Congress drill the crap out of  the Director of FBI for using  the NSA  database that's not meant to be used on Americans without getting a warrant  to arrest non USA threat actors like drug dealers.  last night . If you not from the USA  they have unlimited data on you, not just online but offline as well  they don't need a warrant like they supposed to get for Americans   Law enforcement  has way more power over me,  because they have data on everything i ever done long before the www was a thing even and they have the power to put you in jail;.

 

Google , Facebook . etc  on the other hand only has power over you because you chose to give them  that power . I dont even sign in to there services or install any of there apps , I dont even have and account.. i use a vpn when online they dont know who i am .

 

4 hours ago, banned said:

Privacy is nobody's concern anyway.

 

Just because you dont care about your own  privacy and allow big tech know who the women you was with  last night , dont mean the whole world thinks like you In my country we dont like our rights being abused . Google are no better than Black Hat hackers who use social engineering to collect data from the naive .

 

Only power Google has is the power to be sued and power to appeal and tie up the court when they lose . All there money cant buy a vote. just like it was proved in the EU were they lobbed against new laws that passed this year and same thing happen when  they lobbed against laws in the USA they passed anyway .  Old saying is the bigger they are the harder they fall.  I  dont buy into the whole give up  my privacy so i can use this or that for free  .If  I want something I will use cracked , open source  or pay for it .  You been drinking too much Google Kool Aid !!!

 

[neeraj]

Google+ has been there for quite some time, sitting silently. Not sure how many if anyone still uses that platform to do anything at all and if Google is even paying any attention to it whatsoever. This was inevitable. The BIG tech companies realise their negligence only when they come to face some serious consequences. And unless there are some concrete rules put in place to make Privacy a responsibility, I don't think it makes any difference. Not many people are concerned about what they are sharing with Google, Facebook etc. Not sure how much of it is true but I have heard of multiple instances where it seems like apps from Google, FB, Amazon snoops on you by accessing your microphone and then suggest you Ads based on what you have discussed recently. Its a dangerous world out there. Till the time you are connected online, there is no such thing as Privacy.