WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - The top Republican on the U.S. House of Representatives
Energy and Commerce Committee asked Google chief executive Eric Schmidt
on Wednesday to detail the search engine's privacy practices since it
acquired rival DoubleClick.
"It is critical that Google's and DoubleClick's policies and
procedures for handling this information be transparent, and that every
effort is made to protect consumers' data," Texas Rep. Joe Barton wrote
in a letter to the company dated May 21.
In the letter, Barton asked if and how data collected by Google and
DoubleClick about computer users would be merged and how the data would
be used, and if Google planned to continue allowing users to opt out of
ad-serving cookies.
Privacy advocates have expressed concern that a wave of
consolidation in online advertising would lead to a concentration of
personal information in the hands of a few powerful companies.
The lucrative online advertising industry has prompted a string of deals in recent months.
Barton also asked Google why a new technology to identify who should
receive which ads would retain the IP address and user ID, or browser
ID.
Schmidt and Barton met in November, and two of Barton's aides went
to Google headquarters in Mountain View, California in December to
discuss privacy.
"We have had a constructive ongoing dialogue with Rep. Barton's
staff about our privacy practices, and while the integration of
DoubleClick into Google is still underway, we will of course respond to
his questions," Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich said in an e-mailed
response to questions about the letter.
Barton asked Google to reply to his questions by June 6.
Consolidation in the industry has included Google's acquisition of
DoubleClick for $3.4 billion, Microsoft Corp's $6 billion deal for
aQuantive and Yahoo's purchase of BlueLithium for $300 million. Time
Warner Inc's AOL unit also bought Tacoda for an undisclosed amount.
Google has been in talks with Yahoo regarding a possible advertising deal between them.
(Editing by Toni Reinhold)
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