According to this UPI article, the New York Times (NYT) is reporting that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has begun investigating Google's $3.1 billion plan to purchase DoubleClick Inc., the parent company of Performics. The NYT source claims that...

FTC Investigating Google's DoubleClick Plans - Read More...

The New York State Consumer Protection Board has sent a letter to the FTC endorsing EPIC's recent complaint regarding the privacy implications of the Google/DoubleClick merger. The Board stated, "[t]he combination of DoubleClick's Internet surfing history generated through consumers' pattern of clicking on specific advertisements, coupled with Google's database of consumers' past searches, will result in the creation of "super-profiles," which will make up the world's single largest repository of both personally and non-personally identifable information." The Board expressed concern that these profiles expose consumers to the risk of disclosure of their data to third-parties, as well as public disclosure as evidence in litigation or through data breaches. The Board urged the FTC to halt the merger until it has fully investigated Google's planned use of DoubleClick's data post-merger. (May 9).To read the complete article please click on the following link.
EPIC - Google/DoubleClick Merger