Privacy Groups Pressure FTC to Scrutinize Google Deal
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Online rights groups continue to press the FTC to require privacy protections as conditions of Google's acquisition of DoubleClick.
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Google deal prompts Federal Trade Commission to recently propose a set of privacy principles for online behavioral advertising.
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The Federal Trade Commission has opened a preliminary antitrust investigation into Google's planned $3.1 billion purchase of the online advertising company DoubleClick , an industry executive briefed on the agency's plans said yesterday.
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Google, a frequent target of privacy advocates, yesterday called for new international standards on the collection and use of consumer data.
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Google is proposing that governments and technology companies create a transnational privacy policy.
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Google has been sharply criticised in a report looking at the privacy policies of popular net firms.
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By MICHAEL LIEDTKE SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc.'s privacy practices are the worst among the Internet's top destinations, according to a watchdog group seeking to intensify the recent focus on how the online search leader handles personal information about its users.
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(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
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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.
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Google has responded to a U.S. congressman&#39;s series of questions about its privacy practices, with the company defending its use of consumer data.
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Google and Microsoft go head to head in the consumer healthcare market but privacy experts worry about personal information going online.
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Google Inc.'s privacy practices are the worst among the Internet's top destinations, according to a watchdog group seeking to intensify the recent focus on how the online search leader handles personal information about its users.
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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.
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Internet giant Google has urged regulators to scrutinise Microsoft's proposed move to buy Yahoo.
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A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee joins FTC in investigating Google's proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick.
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Congress plans to scrutinize Google Inc.'s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick Inc. to gauge the potential impacts on consumer privacy and competition in the online advertising business.
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U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras is consulting with the agency&#39;s ethics officer to see if she should recuse herself from a review of&#160;Google&#39;s planned acquisition of online ad network DoubleClick.On Wednesday, two technology lobbying organizations called on Majoras to recuse herself, citing her husband&#39;s involvement in the matter. John Majoras is a partner with Jones Day, the law firm that is advising DoubleClick on antitrust issues relating to the US$3.1 billion buyout. Jones Day representatives, including John Majoras, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.Chairman Majoras &quot;has previously recused herself in similar matters for similar reasons where there was a lesser conflict of interest,&quot; representatives of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) wrote in a complaint submitted to the U.S. regulator late Wednesday. &quot;It is clear that she must recuse herself now.&quot;The chairman is now reviewing the matter with the FTC&#39;s chief ethics officer, Christian White, but an FTC spokeswoman on Wednesday downplayed the possible conflict of interest. John Majoras&#39; law firm has not appeared before the FTC in this matter, according to FTC spokeswoman Claudia Farrell. &quot;We learned only yesterday that Jones Day is representing DoubleClick before the European Commission, not the Federal Trade Commission,&quot; she said.Even so, the Jones Day connection may have influenced FTC staffers or the chairman herself, said Jeff Chester, executive director with the CDD. &quot;There&#39;s no question that there&#39;s a stealth set of influences here that could have shaped the staff opinion,&quot; he said. &quot;We do not know what impact it might have on the chairman.&quot;Jones Day is advising DoubleClick on &quot;international and U.S. antitrust and competition law aspects of its planned $3.1 billion acquisition by Google,&quot; the law firm says in a note on its Web site.The deal has come under scrutiny from regulators in the U.S. and Europe who are examining whether it will give Google too much control over the Internet advertising market and too much data on the online behavior of its users.&#160;