Consumer privacy groups urged stockholders of a marketing firm to block a proposed merger of the company with a Net advertising firm.
"This open letter urges you to disapprove the proposed merger of Abacus Direct and DoubleClick, and to demand disclosure from the companies on certain key questions affecting it," the letter to DoubleClick shareholders said.
The letter was signed by Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters, as well as the directors of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy International.
The appeal asks stockholders if they feel they have been properly informed about the privacy-related risks associated with the merger, based on both companies' past behavior.
DoubleClick, one of the Net's biggest ad firms, said last week that it intends to buy Abacus Direct, a consumer data marketer, in a US$1 billion stock swap.
The combination would create a powerful online direct-marketer armed with a rich offline database -- complete with names, addresses, and phone numbers -- of millions of Americans.
Abacus Direct (ABDR) of Broomfield, Colorado, runs America's largest database of catalog buying behavior. The firm collects purchase data from 1,100 catalogs and has built five-year buying profiles on 88 million American households.
Abacus sells those consumer profiles to catalogers wishing to pinpoint a target audience.
DoubleClick (DCLK) hopes to bring Abacus' data-driven targeted marketing to the Internet.
The plan is to connect surfers with their profiles in Abacus' offline database so that DoubleClick can serve up a precisely tailored ad in real-time.
