"The ask came from Google, maker of the world's most used web browser, Chrome. The tech giant sent a message to an email list that Hopkins and other small business owners were subscribed to. Google's request: To sign a petition opposing Assembly Bill 566, which would require browsers to provide users with a way to automatically tell websites not to share their personal information with third parties."
"In its email to Hopkins, Google claimed that the legislation would "hurt your ability to use online ads to reach customers." "It was intentionally misleading people that by this bill passing, they were going to lose out on all of these tools within Google (to advertise)," she told CalMatters. The outreach was particularly noteworthy because Google had not itself taken a public position on the bill."
"Google's name wasn't on the petition either; instead, the document was officially from the "Connected Commerce Council," which the tech giant backs financially. The largely behind-the-scenes campaign offers a glimpse into how the tech giant is working to preserve its grip on the online advertising market and how it attempts, without being seen, to shape policies in a state with one of the nation's strictest privacy protection laws."
Google sent an email to small business subscribers urging them to sign a petition opposing California Assembly Bill 566, which would require browsers to let users automatically signal websites not to share personal data with third parties. The petition came from the Connected Commerce Council, a group financially backed by Google, rather than from Google directly. Google warned the bill would harm small businesses' ability to use online ads, while the company maintained no public position and did not notify the bill's author, revealing a behind-the-scenes effort to influence privacy policy.
Read at CalMatters
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