Privacy groups: FTC has obligation in Google deal
499033
Two privacy groups are stepping up the pressure on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), saying the agency has an obligation to consider privacy concerns as it prepares to rule on the antitrust implications of&#160;Google&#39;s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick.The executive directors of&#160;the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) repeated their call for the FTC to impose privacy conditions if it approves the merger. It appears that an FTC decision on the $3.1 billion acquisition is &quot;imminent,&quot; said Jeffrey Chester, CDD&#39;s executive director.FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz in October suggested the FTC&#39;s review of the deal had to be about competition questions, not privacy, but Chester disagreed during a press conference on Tuesday. One of the FTC&#39;s main duties is to protect consumer privacy, and the merger of the number one search provider with the number one ad server raises serious privacy questions, he said.Google&#39;s contention that there are no major privacy concerns is &quot;absurd on the face of it,&quot; Chester said. DoubleClick says it serves 8 billion online ads and processes 964GB of Web server log files each day, he said.&quot;It would be a violation of trust, in effect abuse of their own role, in not addressing an issue of such concern as the data-collection apparatus within the ever-growing behemoth,&quot; Chester said. &quot;If they&#39;re really the agency to protect consumer privacy, they will act to protect privacy. If they fail to act to protect privacy, they have basically put up a flag to American consumers saying, &#39;We surrender your data.&#39;&quot;Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich repeated Google&#39;s position that the merger would have positive effects.&quot;This acquisition is good for consumers, advertisers and Web site publishers, and we continue to be confident that it will be approved,&quot; he said. &quot;I would also point out what the FTC itself has said about privacy not playing a role in its review of the deal.&quot;Last week, the two groups&#160;asked FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras to recuse herself from the decision on the merger, saying her husband works for a law firm that is advising DoubleClick on the deal in the U.S.&#160;Majoras declined Monday to recuse herself, saying that her husband isn&#39;t directly involved in the DoubleClick deal and that the Jones Day law firm is advising the company only before European regulators.An FTC spokesman wasn&#39;t immediately available for comment.Chester and EPIC executive director Marc Rotenberg repeated their calls for Majoras to recuse herself. Jones Day&#39;s Web site, until recently, said it was advising DoubleClick on the deal in the U.S. as well as Europe, they said.But the most important step the FTC can take is to impose privacy conditions on the merger, Rotenberg said. The case for a privacy review &quot;is very clear,&quot; he said.Chester agreed. &quot;Are they concerned about Americans&#39; privacy, or are they going to give Google a pass?&quot; he said.
589611
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will not try to block Google&#39;s acquisition of online ad-serving vendor DoubleClick, the agency said Thursday.The commission voted 4-1 to approve the deal after an eight-month investigation. &quot;After carefully reviewing the evidence, we have concluded that&#160;Google&#39;s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick&#160;is unlikely to substantially lessen competition,&quot; the majority wrote in a statement.The commission downplayed&#160;concerns brought by some privacy groups. Privacy concerns are &quot;not unique to Google and DoubleClick,&quot; and &quot;extend to the entire online advertising marketplace,&quot; commissioners wrote.Google, the provider of the most widely used search engine, announced in April that it planned to acquire ad serving giant DoubleClick in a $3.1 billion deal.The commission examined several factors and concluded that the two companies are not direct competitors, the FTC said in a news release on Thursday. The agency found that competition in online ad-serving markets is vigorous and likely to increase.The agency will closely monitor the ad-serving space, however, commissioners wrote. &quot;The markets within the online advertising space continue to quickly evolve, and predicting their future course is not a simple task,&quot; the majority wrote. &quot;We want to be clear ... that we will closely watch these markets and, should Google engage in unlawful tying or other anticompetitive conduct, the commission intends to act quickly.&quot;Google, which faces a similar examination before the European Union, praised the FTC decision.&quot;The FTC&#39;s strong support sends a clear message: this acquisition poses no risk to competition and will benefit consumers,&quot; Eric Schmidt, Google&#39;s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. &quot;We hope that the European Commission will soon reach the same conclusion, and we are confident that this deal will deliver more relevant ads for consumers, more choices for advertisers, and more opportunities for Web site publishers.&quot;Google will remain committed to user privacy, Schmidt added. &quot;For us, privacy does not begin or end with our purchase of DoubleClick,&quot; he said. &quot;We have been protecting our users&#39; privacy since our inception, and will continue to innovate in how we safeguard their information and maintain their trust.&quot;The same month that Google and DoubleClick announced the deal, three privacy groups, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG),&#160;filed a petition asking the FTC to block the deal&#160;unless Google made significant changes to its privacy policy. The groups argued that the combined company with have unparalleled access to Web users&#39; personal information.EPIC and the CDD didn&#39;t have an immediate reaction to the ruling.FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour voted against the deal, saying she disagreed with the majority&#39;s view on the direction of the ad-serving market.And Commissioner Jon Leibowitz, while voting with the majority, said the deal raised serious competition and privacy issues. Those issues, &quot;though in part brought to light by the deal, clearly transcend it,&quot; he wrote.In late May, Google announced that the FTC was examining the deal for potential antitrust problems. The FTC can rule that a merger raises antitrust issues, and the agency can recommend remedies. If the merging companies don&#39;t reach a settlement with the FTC, the agency can see an injunction against the merger in a U.S. court.Leibowitz, in November, said the agency was reviewing the case on antitrust, but not privacy, grounds. The privacy groups have argued, however, that the privacy issue is related to antitrust partly because of the competitive edge Google would get in targeting advertising to specific people.In December,&#160;EPIC and CDD filed a new complaint, asking FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras to recuse herself from the case. Majoras&#39; husband works for a law firm that is advising DoubleClick, but DoubleClick and the FTC said that the Jones Day law firm hasn&#39;t represented the company before the FTC.
654059
InfoWorld - The U.S. government still needs to block or impose conditions on Google&#39;s acquisition of online advertising server DoubleClick, despite Google&#39;s call for global privacy standards, three privacy groups said Monday.
548044
Online rights groups continue to press the FTC to require privacy protections as conditions of Google's acquisition of DoubleClick.
264954
Google Inc, the world&#39;s largest  Internet company, will propose at a meeting of international  policymakers in France on Friday that national regulators agree  on a basic set of global privacy protections.
534443
As FTC probe continues... The FTC inquiry was a just a start. In the coming weeks, Google will also face a pair of congressional investigations into its proposed $3.1bn merger with online ad company DoubleClick - one in the House and one in the Senate.â¦
494837
The Web site of a law firm employing the husband of U.S. Federal Trade Commission chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras contradicts an FTC explanation that Majoras has no conflict of interest in reviewing DoubleClick&#39;s $3.1 billion acquisition by Google, two privacy groups said Thursday.On Wednesday, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD)&#160;asked Majoras to recuse herself from the merger review, saying her husband, John Majoras, is a partner with Jones Day, the law firm that is advising DoubleClick on antitrust issues relating to the acquisition.DoubleClick and the FTC have denied that Jones Day has represented the company before the FTC.But on Thursday, EPIC and CDD filed a second complaint with the FTC, showing a cached Web page claiming that Jones Day is advising DoubleClick &quot;on the international and U.S. antitrust and competition law aspects of its planned $3.1 billion acquisition by Google Inc.&quot; The Jones Day Web page was later changed, the groups said.EPIC and CDD said Thursday they were filing a Freedom of Information Act request seeking all records on the relationship between Jones Day and DoubleClick.One conclusion to draw is that &quot;Jones Day has sought to conceal the nature, scope, and duration of the relationship with its client DoubleClick by altering web pages,&quot; said a letter signed by executive directors of both organizations. FTC spokespeople who denied the relationship were &quot;either misinformed or willfully misled the public,&quot; the letter says.An FTC spokeswoman declined to comment on the new complaint. Representatives of Jones Day and DoubleClick weren&#39;t immediately available for comment.The FTC and DoubleClick downplayed the connection Wednesday, saying Jones Day has not advised DoubleClick on matters before the FTC. Instead, Simpson Thacher &amp; Bartlett has been DoubleClick&#39;s outside counsel since July of 2005 and has advised it in matters before the FTC, DoubleClick said in a statement.&quot;Jones Day was not engaged to represent, and has not represented DoubleClick before the Federal Trade Commission or appeared before the commission on DoubleClick&#8217;s behalf,&quot; the company said.In April, EPIC, CDD, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG)&#160;asked the FTC to block Google&#39;s acquisition of DoubleClick&#160;unless the combined company made changes to its privacy practices. The combined company would hold a vast amount of private information on Web users, the groups said.
428600
Privacy advocate Marc Rotenberg contends that Google's purchase of DoubleClick will give it broad amounts of data about individual Internet users, with few legal limits on what it could do with that data.
287563
Google Inc, the world's Web search  leader, told U.S. Senate lawmakers on Thursday the company is  pursuing new technologies to protect the privacy of Internet  users as it seeks to acquire advertising company DoubleClick  Inc.
292008
Web search leader Google Inc.&#39;s   commitment to consumer privacy came under fire from  Privacy International, a British activist group that has  previously singled out Google for criticism.
537984
The real privacy issues are being raised by Google, Yahoo, AOL and others, which are tracking users in order to show them advertising targeted to their interests.
113737
Google's privacy and content policies for Google Applications give Google full rights to use your content however the company wants.  Are you nervous?
650836
In a post on its Web site, Google said that the proposed deal could pose threats to âinnovation and opennessâ on the Internet.
474934
The U.S. government still needs to block or impose conditions on Google Inc.&#39;s acquisition of online advertising server DoubleClick Inc., despite Google&#39;s call for global privacy standards, three privacy groups said Monday.
669480
Time Warner pays to settle securities fraud charges. Also: The FCC says yes to wireless internet for airline passengers & hellip;.  Google wins trademark lawsuit against Geico & hellip;. and more.
581336
(InfoWorld) - Search giant Google will propose on Friday that governments and technology companies create a transnational privacy policy to address growing concerns over how personal data is handled across the Internet. Google's global privacy counsel, Peter Fleischer, will make the proposal at a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization meeting in Strasbourg, France, dealing with the intersection of technology with human rights and ethics. Fleischer's 30-minute presentation will advocate that regulators, international organizations, and private companies increase dialog on privacy issues with a goal to create a unified standard. Google envisions the policy to be a product of self-regulation by companies, improved laws, and possible new ones, according to a Google spokesman based in London. "We donât want to be prescriptive about who does that and what those standards are because it should be a collaborative effort," the spokesman said. Other organizations have already made progress on privacy standards, he said. For example, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) created a nine-pointÂ Privacy FrameworkÂ designed to aid countries without existing policies. However, the framework has been criticized for vagueness and only been partially implemented by APEC members, said David Bradshaw, principal analyst at Ovum. E.U. privacy regulations are already more stringent than the APEC's recommendations, which highlights the difficulty in creating a global standard that meets existing regulatory requirements in various geographic areas, he said. "From Google's viewpoint, they can't expect the E.U. and those nations that have higher privacy standards to level down to the APEC standards," Bradshaw said. Google's increasing power in search, Internet commerce and software services hasÂ place its privacy policies under scrutiny. In June, Google said it would delete the data it stores about end-users anonymous in its server logs after 18 months, part of an effort toÂ deflate concerns about privacyÂ raised by a European Union (E.U.) working group composed of data protection officials from 27 countries. Google took a further battering after itÂ acquired DoubleClick, an online advertising company that uses technology to track user trends in order to serve them targeted ads. The technology, also used by many other Internet advertising companies, has raised privacy concerns. A European consumer group, Bureau EuropÃ©en des Unions de Consommateurs asked the European Commission in July as well as other authorities to investigateÂ how the DoubleClick deal would impact consumers. The focus on privacy by governments and individual Internet users has resulted in localized legislation, causing a fragmentation in privacy regulations, Google's spokesman said. That can make it difficult for e-commerce businesses, as an increasing amount of data is routinely crossing international borders through credit card transactions, he said. "We really hope that this sparks a sustained, thoughtful creative debate, he said. Â
545152
InfoWorld - An online advertiser that drove traffic to its Web sites by sending out spam with misleading subject lines has agreed to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)Â complaint charging that it failed to tell consumers they had to spend money to receive so-called free products, the FTC announced Wednesday.