Organizational Statements

Editor’s Note:  Consumers Watchdog, founded by a trial lawyer, is non-transparent about their funding.  In particular, the organization does not indicate whether they or their major financial supporters have a financial interest in any current or planned legal actions  against Google.  Although the NGO describes itself as having been founded “to conduct research and public education,” the organization has an extensive track record of engaing in Regulation by Litigation.

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Consumer Watchdog has asked the White House Counsel to rule that President Obama and other members of the Administration must distance themselves from Google while the company is the target of serious federal investigations, including a criminal probe into allegations the search giant profited from selling online ads to illegal pharmacies.

“I’m not going to speculate on their motivation,” Schmidt, who was in Washington to attend a meeting of the president’s technology advisers, told POLITICO. “They haven’t said anything yet. They haven’t said what their plan is, what their issues are and so forth.”

Schmidt said he expects it will take some time for the investigation to play out, given the speed at which such probes typically progress. The European Commission opened its own investigation of Google in November.