FTC Chairman Denies Conflict in Google Case
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Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras said yesterday that she will not recuse herself from reviewing the proposed merger of Google and DoubleClick. Two privacy groups had asked her to step aside upon learning that her husband works for a law firm that represents DoubleClick.
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Leaders of India's software industry and Mumbai police are disputing a Silicon Valley entrepreneur's allegations that they failed to investigate his claims that an employee stole critical software code from an Indian subsidiary.
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Privacy advocates want FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras to recuse herself from the agency's review of Google Inc.'s planned $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick because of a possible conflict of interest.
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Federal Trade Commission has concerns over privacy issues and competition in Google's proposed $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick.
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The top antitrust official at the  Justice Department last month backed Microsoft Corp.   by urging state prosecutors to reject a confidential complaint  filed by Google Inc. , The New York Times reported on  Sunday.
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Deborah Platt Majoras said she wonât remove herself from an antitrust review of Googleâs purchase of DoubleClick, rebuffing requests from privacy groups opposed to the transaction.
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WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday recommended against additional regulation of high-speed Internet traffic.
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Google will not be receiving any help from Yahoo in the case brought against it by the Author's Guild. Yahoo called Google's subpoena an attempt to force it to divulge trade secrets, and has refused to testify.
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InfoWorld - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will not try to block Google's acquisition of online ad-serving vendor DoubleClick, the agency said Thursday.
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DoubleClick's law firm deleted Web pages hinting at a conflict of interest with the head of the Federal Trade Commission, which is reviewing the merger. The law firm says the Web pages were "confusing."
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Philippe Dauman fielded questions about its $1 billion lawsuit against Google and new copyright guidelines it and several other companies announced today.
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Complaint cites conflicts resulting from FTC chairman's husband working on antitrust cases for law firm that advises DoubleClick.
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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.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is taking the middle ground in the net neutrality debate that pits large telecommunications operators against Internet giants. In a report on its examination ofÂ the net neutrality issue, the FTC on Wednesday didn't urge lawmakers to either pass or kill neutrality legislation but instead recommended that policymakers proceed with caution. Net neutrality refers to the concept of an open Internet where all content is treated the same way. Net neutrality regulation, backed by companies such as Google and by World Wide Web pioneer Timothy Berners-Lee, would require telecommunications operators to keep their networks neutral. Operators, however, typically argue that such regulations would stifle innovation. Qwest Communications International and Verizon CommunicationsÂ interpreted the FTC statement as a victory. "The Federal Trade Commission report confirms that there is no problem to fix," said Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president for public affairs, policy and communications, in a statement. "Proposals to impose new regulation actually threaten further advancements in broadband Internet connections." Qwest issued a similar comment. "Qwest is pleased with the findings of the report released today by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that government regulation of the Internet is unnecessary because there is no evidence of market failure or consumer harm," said Gary Lytle, Qwest senior vice president of federal relations, in a statement. An organization on the other side of the fence, the Open Internet Coalition, was pleased to see that the FTC found that consumers have said they strongly prefer the current open access model. But the group warned that Congress and the Federal Communications Commission must act to protect the open Internet. If policymakers wait until operators begin treating traffic differently, it will be very difficult to return to the current open framework, the group said. The SavetheInternet.com Coalition took a similar stance. "This is not the time for caution, but rather forward-looking and decisive action reinstating Net Neutrality once and for all," said S. Derek Turner, research director of Free Press, an organization that is part of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, in a statement. The FTC said the broadband industry is moving toward more competition. Thus, in the absence of market failure, policy makers should be particularly careful in enacting new regulations. However, some organizations, including the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, argue that competition is weak, with most consumers having at most two operators to choose from. Recent consolidation, such as SBC's acquisition of AT&T, has shrunk the competitive market. In May, 54 organizations, including Amazon.com and Tivo,Â called for a national broadband policyÂ that includes net neutrality laws. Google's public policy blog, launched in late May, already includes several entries supporting net neutrality.
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A former natural gas trader for a hedge fund facing congressional scrutiny yesterday disputed the findings of Senate investigators who blamed high natural gas prices last winter on the company's speculative bets.
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The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has questioned Congressional testimony by the architect of a proposed satellite radio merger.
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Google's $3.1 billion acquisition represents no threat to competition in the online advertising arena, FTC regulators say.