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Privacy Groups Keep Pecking at Google-DoubleClick Deal; May File New Complaint

The fun just doesn’t stop. Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, the two guys most vocally opposed to the $3.1 billion Google-DoubleClick merger — plan to file a new complaint alleging that the FTC review has been tainted by a conflict of interest on the […]

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The fun just doesn't stop. Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, the two guys most vocally opposed to the $3.1 billion Google-DoubleClick merger -- plan to file a new complaint alleging that the FTC review has been tainted by a conflict of interest on the part of FTC chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras, whose husband works at Jones Day, a law firm that represents DoubleClick in the European Commission review of the deal. (Last week Majoras refused to step down from the review, arguing that because Jones Day does not represent DoubleClick in the U.S. there is no conflict of interest.)

"Jones Day also said it was representing DoubleClick in the FTC review, and then it pulled down the [web] page that said that," Rotenberg said. "I actually think Majoras is impressive and I like her, but she should have recused herself in this case. The recusal question is separate from the outcome [of the FTC review of the Google-DoubleClick deal.] 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."

The complaint could be filed under the Administrative Procedures Act. Rotenberg said he's debating whether to file now or after the FTC issues a final decision on the Google-DoubleClick deal.

"There's a lot of talk that the decision may be coming out soon," Rotenberg says. "It may be coming out this week or next week."

It's been eight months since Google announced its intention to acquire DoubleClick, a web advertising company, for $3.1 billion. While privacy experts and regulators have been fixated on the transaction, a couple comparable deals have closed without much fuss: In July Yahoo completed a $680 million acquisition of RightMedia (an online ad company), and in August,
Microsoft closed on a $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive (another online ad company).

The U.S.-based privacy groups aren't the only ones to raise a stink about the deal. A letter from the European Consumer's Organization sent today argues the deal could be "detrimental to consumers' welfare" because of privacy concerns.

We are deeply concerned that consumers will suffer significant harm from
the emergence of the monopoly that will be formed by merging the
technologies and networks of Google and DoubleClick. Following the merger,
there will be no real alternative to the combined entity for advertisers
and web publishers.

Neither Google nor DoubleClick were immediately available to respond.

Photo: Flickr/______TheAlieness
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