An FTC decision on the Google-DoubleClick merger is ‘imminent,’ C...

The merger is “far more important in terms of media diversity… than what’s going on at the FCC,” he said. “We need to reiterate the need to address privacy concerns as part of this review,” he said, saying “a number of commissioners are concerned” and “if the commissioners fail to act… it will be a violation of trust, an abuse of their own role.” An EU hearing is set Jan. 21. FTC Chairman Deborah Majoras’ decision not to recuse herself from the merger review was “unprofessional,” he said. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, agreed that Majoras hasn’t “satisfactorily answered the questions” about remaining involved in the matter. EPIC has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for details, not to delay the merger as some have alleged, he said. EPIC is building a legal challenge to Majoras’ refusal to recuse herself, and this could be made in an appeal of a merger approval if it comes soon, he said. European consumer group BEUC amplified those concerns in a Tuesday letter to Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner. DoubleClick’s ad-serving tools, offered on a standalone basis and not controlled by DoubleClick, nonetheless are “used by almost all top publishers to function as a kind of ’spigot’ for ad networks to access the inventory that publishers do not sell directly,” the group said. The merger will “eliminate nascent competition” between Google and DoubleClick for ad- serving tools and integrated ad networks, said BEUC. Web publishers likely would see lower revenue from ads served by Google, which could block non-Google ad networks from “interoperating” with publisher tools from DoubleClick, now seen as an “honest broker,” BEUC said. Consumers may see less content and less innovation online if Google raises rates for advertisers, who then pull back their advertising, hurting publishers downstream, it said. The so-called privacy race between search providers, which have all instituted data retention limits in recent months, may slow to a crawl, as “Google will lose any incentive” to tighten its privacy policies as its market dominance expands. Privacy is especially important to European audiences, BEUC said. The group also warned that Google could discriminate against customers based on price or other “commercial conditions,” if advertisers have access to consumer profiles held by Google that show, for example, a consumer is an “impulse buyer.”