House GOP Seeks Google-DoubleClick Hearing
Proposed $3.1 Billion Merger Raises Consumer Privacy Concerns
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 11/6/2007 1:10:00 AM MT
Washington – Key House Republicans are seeking a hearing on Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick, with an emphasis on deal’s impact on consumer privacy over the Internet.
“Google is an information colossus already, but add on DoubleClick’s marketing power and you produce a single commercial entity that can know more about you and me than nearly everybody but mom and the IRS,” said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said in a statement.
The hearing was requested in letter sent Tuesday to Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., chairman of the Consumer Protection Subcommittee, by Barton and all GOP members of Rush’s panel. Democrats have majority control of the subcommittee.
The $3.1 billion merger is under review in Europe and in the U.S. by the Federal Trade Commission. Critics of the deal are concerned a marriage between the dominant search engine and a leading online ad seller would give the newly formed entity the ability and incentive to track consumers on the Internet in ways they might not like. The companies deny they would harvest consumer data that would invade personal privacy.
“They say they just want their ads to match our behavior, but I wonder if the intentional collection and coordination of all that personal data about us is such a good idea, and I wonder if I’m the only one who is feeling a little uncomfortable about it,” said Barton, co-founder of the House Privacy Caucus, in a statement. “It seems to me that policymakers should know more about Google’s intentions than we do, and a serious hearing to get at the facts looks like a very good idea.”
Last year, Barton and Rush teamed up on a major telecommunications bill that passed the House but died in the Senate. Google was part of coalition that killed the Senate bill over the absence of stringent net neutrality regulations designed to ensure that cable and phone providers of broadband access did not discriminate against Web-based providers of voice, video and data services and applications.
Australia regulators last week approved the Google-DoubleClick transaction. According to Stifel Nicolas analyst Blair Levin, if the deal runs into trouble, Europe is the likely roadblock.
“The fact that opponents allege that Google and DoubleClick's market share is as high or higher in Europe as compared to the United States, combined with the more aggressive stance of the European Commission in investigating Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Intel, suggests to us that Europe is the place where investors following the merger should pay the closest attention,” Levin said in a recent client note.
Approval in the U.S. is likely, he added.
“In the United States, we continue to believe the FTC will permit the merger to go forward, and at this point we do not expect the agency will impose significant privacy conditions on this merger, though the privacy concerns could lead to a broader policy initiative on the subject,” Levin said.
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I've three words for Joe Barton and his oh-so-privacy-obsessed pals: Bush Warrantless...
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