Watchdog Bashes Google, Health IT Stimulus

Consumer Watchdog, a newcomer in Washington privacy circles that has been pressuring Google to enhance the privacy and security of its various Web applications, slammed the Internet giant Tuesday for allegedly lobbying to allow the sale of electronic medical records in the latest version of the House economic stimulus legislation. In a letter to Congress that was also sent to President Barack Obama, Consumer Watchdog asked for the removal of what it perceives as loopholes in the package's ban on the sale of patient data and to include other privacy protections currently absent from the legislation.