Microsoft, AT&T, and Privacy Watchdogs Call for FTC Review of Google-DoubleClick Deal

The purchase of DoubleClick, the world's No 1 digital ad-serving company, by Google, the world's largest search engine, has brought calls from industry giants Microsoft and AT&T, and a policy watchdog, the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), for Federal Trade Commission (FTC) review of the acquisition. The concerned parties contend that Google will have a competitive advantage flowing from the massive amount of consumer data that it will possess once DoubleClick's inventory of data relating to people's surfing habits is added to its own stores of information relating to people's search histories. While Microsoft's and AT&T's challenge is based on competition concerns, the CDD further challenged the deal based on privacy concerns. Jeff Chester, the Executive Director of the CDD, commented that the deal "leaves too much personal information about all of us in one company's hands". One fear is that Google will merge the two companies' data stores and in the process gain an unparalleled view into individuals' online habits. Google has commented that this fear is unfounded, because it plans to merge only what it terms "nonpersonally identifiable data". However, Google's comments have not calmed privacy advocates' fears, as the potential for even more information to find its way into the hands of Google is bolstered by its recent aggressive expansion into ad sales for offline media, such as TV and radio. It seems likely that a Google acquisition of DoubleClick will create an unparalleled store of online consumer data. The FTC may be called upon to decide if the centralization of this data in the hands of a single organization is likely to have anti-competitive effects, and be detrimental to the privacy rights of online consumers. For a discussion of the acquisition, see: http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-6177029.html Summary by: Michael Migus