Not so well-documented is spending to support highly influential think tanks and public interest groups that are helping shape the privacy debate, ostensibly as independent observers.
The groups included such organizations as the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Future of Privacy Forum and the Brookings Institution.
The tech giants have funded scores of nonprofits, including consumer and privacy groups, and academics, said Jeffrey Chester, executive director at the Center for Digital Democracy, a public interest group that does not accept donations from Google or Facebook.
Accepting donations from these privacy-killing companies enable them to influence decisions by nonprofits, even subtly, he said.
Such organizationswhich bristle at the notion that donations may affect their viewsoften have great sway over legislators, journalists, and the public due largely to their collective expertise on complex issues and inside knowledge of the legislative process.
Pressure has been mounting on Congress to rein in companies like Google and Facebook, which report astronomical profits and have enjoyed limited oversight by federal regulators since their creation.
House and Senate lawmakers have privacy legislation high on their list of priorities.The current debate over what should be covered centers around whether Congress should preempt state privacy laws, like the one approved by voters in California, and whether consumers should have a right to sue tech companies for privacy flaws.
Google and Facebook want a federal privacy law, as long as it doesnt disrupt their data collection and advertising empires, critics say.
The group, which warns of the negative impact of shadowy nonprofit groups on society, according to its website, declined to disclose its donors.
Original article