FTC Investigating Google-DoubleClick Deal

An anonymous reader writes "The New York Times is covering FTC interest in Google's purchase of the DoubleClick service. The investigation is in response to privacy group concerns over the amount of information Google will have available to it via its ad service and DoubleClick. Between a few days and a week from now the FTC should either declare the all clear, or elevate the process to a 'second request' stage. That would indicate more serious issues the federal body has an interest in. Google stated it was confident the purchase would hold up under scrutiny. 'In the complaint, the groups noted that Google collects the search histories of its users, while DoubleClick tracks what Web sites people visit. The merger, according to their complaint, would give one company access to more information about the Internet activities of consumers than any other company in the world.'"

Comments

I can see it now...

[PixieDust]

There's an emergency government meeting behind closed doors...

Suit 1:"So there's this new Google deal going down. Apparently some companies have their panties in a twist because of how much information Google will have."

Suit 2: "How much information are we talking about?"

Suit 3: "Well, Doubleclick catches a lot of web traffic information, browsing patterns, etc. and Google already mines tons of data..."

Suit 1 begins crunching some numbers. "Good God! We have to put a stop to this! Soon they'll know more than we do! That's it. I want the Board (from Google) in here now. They'll be more than happy to give us wha6t we wish. After all, it'd be a shame if something unfortunate happened..."

Oh no!

[Dancindan84]

90% of Google users search for boobies
90% of DoubleClick's responses are people clicking on ads with boobies

Combined together, they'll know that 90% of internet users want to find booies! That's just too much power for one company to have!