DMA to Monitor Senate Hearing on Google-DoubleClick Merger
The Direct Marketing Association did not submit comments to an upcoming hearing on the Google-DoubleClick merger, nor have any of its members been called as witnesses. But DMA officials will be monitoring the proceedings. While there are no concrete plans to submit a brief, they will if they need to clarify points on behalf of its members, said Jerry Cerasale, the DMA’s senior vice president of governement affairs.
The hearing is titled “An Examination of the Google-DoubleClick Merger and the Online Advertising Industry: What Are the Risks for Competition and Privacy?” But a look at the scheduled witnesses indicates that the focus will be more on antitrust concerns than marketing issues, Cerasale said.
Scheduled speakers include: David Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer of Google; Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel of Microsoft; Thomas Lenard, senior fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation; Scott Cleland, president of Precursor LLC, an industry and policy research firm; and Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
So what should marketers who are following the hearings watch out for? Aside from misconceptions regarding online or multichannel marketing, privacy issues.
“I don’t mean that any statement on privacy is going to be awful, just that those are the types of issues [marketers] should be following.” Cerasale said. “You want to focus on what they are saying about the use of information. You also want to look at any statements regarding choice, or required permission. What does what they are saying mean regarding the ability to use the Internet and search engines?”
Ultimately, Cerasale did not seem overly concerned about this hearing. “This is an information hearing. They will listen to what is going on, and hear something about the merger. If they want to focus on the online industry in general, [according to historical precedent] there will be another hearing.”
The hearing, scheduled by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, will be held on Sept. 27, at 2:00 pm, in room 226 of the Dirksen Senate office building.
