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AUSTIN, Texas - Mountain View, California-based Internet search leader Google is facing  opposition to its $3.1 billion purchase of online advertising company DoubleClick, as the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy cited privacy concerns during a Tuesday morning conference call with reporters. The two Washington-based online rights advocacy groups, believing a Federal Trade Commission ruling on the merger could be imminent, have urged further investigation into potential privacy implications that could arise should Google's purchase of the leading online advertisement company be approved. Charges of conflict of interest and the threat of legal action under the Administrative Procedures Act were also detailed in this morning's call. Earlier Complaint Filed The groups filed a complaint over the privacy implications of the merger earlier this year, however in November commission member Jon Leibowitz stated that the FTC inquiry must focus on how the deal would affect competition. "Our analysis of the merger has got to be about competition and potential competition," Leibowitz said. "It can't be about privacy per se," he told a group at a public workshop. Tuesday's efforts by the EPIC and CDD were aimed at returning privacy implications into the FTC's inquiry, contending that the commission is legally bound to address such concerns in its review and that it could set conditions if needed that would make certain the merger does not place consumer privacy at risk. "What Google is claiming, and I'm concerned some commissioners may embrace, is the notion that there are not specific privacy concerns intrinsic to the Google-DoubleClick merger, which frankly is absurd on the face of it, when you're merging the two number ones in search and advertising with vast data for targeting all across the globe," said CDD's executive director Jeff Chester. Privacy concerns regarding the merger have arisen both in the United States and Europe, with the European Union announcing Monday that it is planning a hearing to discuss such concerns in January in Brussels, while earlier this year a Senate antitrust panel led by senators Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Orrin Hatch of Utah held a hearing about the deal focusing on privacy implications. Today's EPIC and CDD conference call appears aimed at making sure the FTC inquiry pays attention to the privacy concerns raised by the Senate antitrust panel, as well as twelve members of the House of Representative who have publicly voiced privacy concerns over the merger. "I think they're in a very difficult position at this point if they ignore what they're hearing from the Hill," said Marc Rotenberg, EPIC's executive director. "I would go back to Commissioner Leibowitz and see whether he'd give the same speech again," Rotenberg said. No Dismissal for Chairman Platt Majoras EPIC and CDD continued today to call for the dismissal of FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, who's husband John M. Majoras is a partner in Jones Day, the law firm that is both her former  employer and which represents DoubleClick, even after Majoras refused to recuse herself from the commission hearing. "It is still our view she is required under federal law and agency guidelines to recuse herself," Rotenberg told reporters this morning. Majoras released a statement explaining her decision not to recuse herself, noting that her husband "is in no way connected to the matter," and spokespeople for the FTC have said that Jones Day was acting on behalf of DoubleClick only in the European Commission hearing. Rotenberg has noted that both his group and the CDD are contemplating filing a challenge in court against Majoras for her failure to recuse herself from the commission hearing on the Google merger. "Jones Day also said it was representing DoubleClick in the FTC review, and then it pulled down the [Web] page that said that. I actually think Majoras is impressive and I like her, but she should have recused herself in this case," Majoras said. "The recusal question is separate from the outcome. It's about the fairness of the procedure. When you go before a government agency, you at least want to feel the government agency is going to make a fair and impartial decision," he added. Google-DoubleClick Merger Facing More Opposition Google today called their acquisition of DoubleClick "good for consumers, advertisers and website publishers," and noted that it is "confident that it will be approved," according to an online article at CNET / News.com. FTC approval is not the only hurdle impeding Google's plan to purchase DoubleClick, as the European Commission's thorough review of the merger is presently under way and has gained a reputation for being harder on issues relating to both privacy and anti-competitive practices than its U.S. counterpart. The merger is also under review by legislators in Australia. Rotenberg said his group is considering its options for filing a complaint under the Administrative Procedures Act, and whether to do so before or after the FTC releases its decision on the merger. "There's a lot of talk that the decision may be coming out soon. It may be coming out this week or next week," Rotenberg said of this, the latest turn in Google's purchase of DoubleClick. Related Links:
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9:57 pm on Dec. 18, 2007 (utc 0)