Human rights group and surveillance watchdog Privacy International has just released an interim report on the privacy practices of over 20 leading web companies, and the results don't look good for colourful, cuddly Google.
The big G was the only one in the group that included companies such as Microsoft, AOL, MySpace and eBay to be placed in the bottom section of the six stage colour coded scale and labelled hostile to privacy.
Just a day after the results were published, just to show how well the verdict was going down, Google representatives apparently tried to start a smear campaign against Privacy International, claiming it has "a conflict of interest regarding Microsoft". This information was sent to two European journalists by Google representatives, according to the privacy group. Shortly afterwards, employees from major internet firms were seen forming a circle around both companies and shouting: "Fight, fight, fight..."
