The Google buyout of Doubleclick is under anti-trust investigation by the Federales.
Could this be the start of a bad news cycle for the boys out west?
While I have no way of knowing what the outcome will be, I am glad that this is getting a second look. The scary thing to me (and others, obviously) about the buy was not so much the consolidation of money at Google, but of information.
Anyone who thinks that *someone* is not paying attention to their surfing and purchasing behavior at any point in time is insane.
Think of it like walking through a shopping mall or big city. At any moment, there are anywhere from a handful to dozens of people with you at least in their line of sight. This does not trouble most people who might spend an afternoon at a shopping mall.
Consider now, though, if a single person or group followed every step you took through that mall and inspected everything you picked up, how often you went to the restroom, when you decided to sit down for a pretzel....
This is what the Google deal does since it would increase its reach so much into customer/surfer information-gathering.
Is there anything illegal about that? I don't know. But I'm very interested to see how the FTC interprets what's going on here. I'll be watching this story while they watch me.
Could this be the start of a bad news cycle for the boys out west?
While I have no way of knowing what the outcome will be, I am glad that this is getting a second look. The scary thing to me (and others, obviously) about the buy was not so much the consolidation of money at Google, but of information.
Anyone who thinks that *someone* is not paying attention to their surfing and purchasing behavior at any point in time is insane.
Think of it like walking through a shopping mall or big city. At any moment, there are anywhere from a handful to dozens of people with you at least in their line of sight. This does not trouble most people who might spend an afternoon at a shopping mall.
Consider now, though, if a single person or group followed every step you took through that mall and inspected everything you picked up, how often you went to the restroom, when you decided to sit down for a pretzel....
This is what the Google deal does since it would increase its reach so much into customer/surfer information-gathering.
Is there anything illegal about that? I don't know. But I'm very interested to see how the FTC interprets what's going on here. I'll be watching this story while they watch me.
2 comments:
that is why i never surf the interweb while eating a pretzel at the mall.
Or windowshop at Victoria's Secret!
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