Google defends DoubleClick deal against Microsoft’s claims

Google Inc. on Thursday tried to defend its $3.1-billion purchase of online advertising firm DoubleClick Inc. warding off allegations from rival, Microsoft Corp. that it is a threat to privacy and competition.

While Google asserted that regulators’ approval would be consumers favor, Microsoft opposed, saying the deal should be stopped before Google could collect “the largest database of user information the world has ever known.” Microsoft went on to state that the future of internet was at stake and deal should not be allowed through.

The deal was openly discussed at a Senate hearing that concluded with no clear winner.

"There will be additional rounds before this heavyweight fight will be settled," said Senator Herb Kohl, the Democrat of Wisconsin who heads an antitrust subcommittee.

Senators cannot directly obstruct the deal, but they can put across their concerns about incongruous combinations to the Federal Trade Commission, the antitrust authority examining the deal. Kohl wanted to assemble executives from Google and from the most known challenger, Microsoft, to determine the implications.

"This consolidation has profound consequences for all those who use the Internet and for all those who sell products and services on the Internet," Kohl said.

David Drummond, chief legal officer at Google claimed that the takeover would help in the advancement of the relatively fresh online advertising business. He added that Google was looking at ways to initiate more transparency in its privacy practices and policies.

But Brad Smith, general counsel at Microsoft, said that, Google, by seeking the merger, was trying to “record almost everything you see and do on the internet and use that information to target ads.”

Smith boldly stated that the merger would allow “the largest company in online advertising to acquire its most significant competitor”.

But Drummond contradicted, citing that Google and DoubleClick were not opponents and therefore combining them posed no antitrust problems.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center joined in Microsoft’s concerns, calling on the Federal Trade Commission to either block the deal or impose “substantial privacy safeguards” on the merger which, in his words, represented a “unique and substantial threat to the privacy interests of internet users around the globe."