Privacy groups: FTC has obligation in Google deal

PRIVACY GROUPS: FTC HAS OBLIGATION IN GOOGLE DEAL
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Center for Digital Democracy 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 Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick. It appears that an FTC decision on the $3.1 billion acquisition is "imminent," said Jeffrey Chester, CDD's executive director. FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz in October suggested the FTC'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'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's contention that there are no major privacy concerns is "absurd on the face of it," Chester said. DoubleClick says it serves 8 billion online ads and processes 964GB of Web server log files each day, he said. "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," Chester said. "If they'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, 'We surrender your data.'"
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/18/Privacy-groups-say-FTC-has-obligation-in-Google-deal_1.html