A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee has opened an investigating into Google ’s propose $ 3.1 billion acquisition of online advertising vender DoubleClic k.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee ’s Subcommittee on Commerce , Trade and Consumer Protection will look into the “ far - progress to privacy and rivalry issues upgrade by the proposed acquisition , ” Representative Bobby Rush , the subcommittee chairman , say in a statement .
Rush informed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission of the investigation in a alphabetic character institutionalise Tuesday . In May , the FTC opened its own investigation into the propose acquirement .
The subcommittee will attempt to host a hearing on the acquisition later this class , Rush read in the letter .
Consumer groups have provoke concerns that the combined companionship would be a threat to privacy . In April , the Electronic Privacy Information Center , the Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group asked the FTC to block the merger unless it obtains guarantees from Google and DoubleClick that they will protect net users ’ privacy . The groups need Google to destruct all cookie and other persistent identifiers resulting from Internet searches that are or could be personally identifiable once a drug user terminates a academic session with Google .
Other chemical group have raised care about the acquirement ’s force on competitor in the online advertising food market . Rush , an Illinois Democrat , shares those concerns , he drop a line to the FTC . “ The subcommittee take on very gravely the protection of consumer privateness , ” he add .
Google tell in a statement issued Thursday that it was confident the FTC would conclude the acquisition “ stupefy no hazard to rivalry . ”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is also plan hearing on the online advertising infinite , including recent acquirement by Microsoft and Yahoo , allot to a source familiar with the sense of hearing plans .
