CfA Asks FCC General Counsel to Investigate Agency Communications With Google Executive
On October 25, 2016, CfA called on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) General Counsel to investigate correspondence between Google Vice President Vint Cert and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler about a provision of a pending rulemaking proceeding. The communication appears to violate the FCC's rules requiring the disclosure of ex parte communications.
CfA Calls on White House to Enforce Ethics Rules Amid Cozy Relationship with Google
On October 4, 2016, CfA called on the White House to develop a more robust ethics program in light of the numerous meetings between former Google executives who became White House officials and their former colleagues.
CfA Calls on Highway Safety Agency to Strengthen Ethics Regime After Close Ties to Google Revealed
On September 30, 2016, CfA called on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to improve its ethics enforcement program. Documents published by the Google Transparency Project reveal that top NHTSA officials were in frequent contact with Google executives while working on federal guidelines for self-driving cars.
CfA Report Reveals Google-Funded Speakers Dominate Key Policy Conferences
On July 19, 2016, CfA released a new report, Google’s Silicon Tower, revealing how academics and experts funded by Google have played a major role at academic and government conferences, debating some of the company’s core issues. Nearly all of the Google-funded participants failed to disclose their financial ties to Google, now a subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc.