Lawmakers Call for Hearings on DoubleClick-Google Merger
A dozen Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are calling for congressional hearings to be held on the proposed acquisition of online advertising concern DoubleClick by search giant Google.
The lawmakers earlier this week sent a letter to democrat Rep. Bobby Bush, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, calling for a “rigorous examination” of the proposed merger.
“Google and DoubleClick would have one of the largest search query databases with one of the world’s largest online user behavioral profile databases,” the letter said. “The privacy implications of such a merger are enormous and without an in-depth examination, we and the American public will not fully understand what all of those implications may be.”
The development comes as online behaviorally based advertising comes under increasing fire in Washington. A group of privacy advocates last week called for the Federal Trade Commission to implement a so-called do-not-track list that would enable consumers to opt out of online advertising delivered based on their Web-site behavior.
Also, Microsoft has campaigned against Google’s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick since the deal was announced in April.
Signers of the letter calling for hearings were Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Vito Fossella (R-NY), Joseph Pitts (R-PA), Lee Terry (R-NE), Michael Burgess (R-TX), Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Charles “Chip” Pickering (R-MS), George Radanovich (R-CA), Mary Bono (R-CA), Sue Myrick (R-NC) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
