"If Google really wanted to give users control over their privacy it would give consumers the ability to be anonymous from the company and its advertisers in crucial areas such as search data and online behavior," Consumer Watchdog's John Simpson said in a press release. "The Dashboard gives the appearance of control without the actual ability to prevent Google from tracking you and delivering you to its marketers." That function is Google's "black box and data mine," he said.

Consumer Watchdog said Google should offer a simple "make-me-anonymous" or "don't track" button or icon on its home page, or at the very least in its dashboard, that would prevent search information from being logged at the choice of the user. The group also said that the dashboard, though useful, is not easy to find. Read more about dashboard here.