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Outcry Over Google's Purchase of Doubleclick

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the fear-of-change dept.

TheCybernator writes to mention that several activist groups have cried out in protest of the Google buyout of Doubleclick reported in recent news. "'Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick will give one company access to more information about the Internet activities of consumers than any other company in the world,' said the complaint lodged with the Federal Trade Commission. 'Moreover, Google will operate with virtually no legal obligation to ensure the privacy, security, and accuracy of the personal data that it collects.' The complaint was filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center along with the Center for Digital Democracy and the US Public Interest Research Group, all of which are involved in online privacy issues."

10 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. I haven't been around in a while by Neil+Blender · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is Google good or bad at Slashdot these days?

    1. Re:I haven't been around in a while by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes.

    2. Re:I haven't been around in a while by Enderandrew · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Your logic that every for-profit company is evil is weak. Absolute statements don't hold up very well.

      You assume the only reason they would do anything "good" is for marketing purposes to make the company look better. Do you know that when I bring up things like Google's Summer of Code program to the non-slashdot crowd, not a soul has heard about it?

      They don't sit around tooting their own horn.

      Has it ever occurred to you that they are a very wealthy company that has the ability to do good things with their wealth and position, and opts to do so based on principle rather than their image?

      Why is it impossible to believe that they would support something financially simply because they support the ideal?

      You then follow with another absolute statement that advertising companies are all evil. Again, blanket statements aren't helping your cause.

      You also have suggested that Google does from time to time violate your privacy. In what way? Do you have details or examples?

      They paved the way for giving away tons of free products and services. They've paved the way for respecting privacy and establishing trust with their user base. They've paved the way to catering the geek crowd, and attempting to offer the best services as opposed to the most mass-marketed services.

      Most of the anti-Google talk lacks substance and if I had to guess, stems from the hatred of large corporations in general, as opposed to anything that Google has done specifically to deserve it.

      Feel free to try again.

      --
      http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
  2. Re:What? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The honeymoon is over, and Google cheated on us. The only question now is who do we move on to, or do we just have a one night stand with Yahoo! to get over the pain.

  3. I for one... A call to the Google Co. by Bananatree3 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    would welcome a Google takeover of Doubleclick if it ment a radical change to its underhanded spyware tactics. If Google can reform this company into something less invasive, I really would welcome that.

  4. It's all relative... I guess by Itninja · · Score: 5, Funny

    Google in 1998: "Don't be evil"

    Google in 2007: "Really now, what is evil? Who are we to say what evil is....?"

    --
    I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
  5. Re:What? by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

    I would go with MSN, but I'd be thinking of Altavista.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  6. Re:What? by Ai+Olor-Wile · · Score: 5, Informative

    What this article so nobly doesn't mention is that it's Microsoft who's stirring up all of these lobbyist groups. Snatching a link off of Google (ahem), we find:

    DoubleClick: Microsoft Loses, Then Whines - http://www.247wallst.com/2007/04/doubleclick_mic.h tml

    Google buys DoubleClick, Microsoft protests - http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/12270

    Google rivals urge scrutiny of DoubleClick deal - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18132983/

    So, um, don't panic. The community hasn't decided Google is the antichrist; this is all astroturfing, and Yahoo and Microsoft were trying to buy DoubleClick too. ;)

  7. Re:What? by svtdragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nevermind a one-night stand; I'm looking for an all-out orgy. Dogpile, here I come.

  8. TrackMeNot by drgonzo59 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    In addition to adblock, try installing the TrackMeNot extension. It takes a different approach to this whole spying situation, it floods Google with bogus searches periodicly. If you just block Google from getting the info, they won't mind, but if you everyone will send bogus queries it will actually skew their results. Here are a couple of queries TMN sent while I typed this:

    "exclusive fire roasting process"

    "business relations win"

    "crazy meds explains"

    "moat encourages young" -- what ?

    and so on. It is pretty fun just to watch what it will come up with. I send about 1 per 2 seconds, and then perhaps a 'real' query once per hour. Let Google try to figure out which is which, they are pretty smart so I'll leave it up to them as an exercise...