Public Service or Extortion?

Earlier this week, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) petitioned the FTC to force Google to shut down operations of Gmail, Google Docs, and other services (PCMag coverage here). Their justification was the resent security issue with Google Docs that impacted fewer than 0.05% of Google Doc users.

Sounds like EPIC is very concerned about the public’s information privacy. UNTIL you read the full petition. In addition to asking the FTC to halt Google’s business until government employees determine it is 100% safe, EPIC is asking that Google pay millions of dollars of fines into a fund that may be tapped by EPIC and other privacy groups’ operations.

Seems to me that EPIC is attempting a good ole’ fashion shakedown.