Friday, February 10, 2012

Former FTC Official: Google Merger Review Was 'Sound'

December 21, 2007

The FTC's former policy director, David Balto, told Technology Daily on Thursday that the agency's decision not to block Google's $3.1 billion merger with online advertising firm DoubleClick "is sound and shows a really careful evaluation of the potential competitive effects of the merger."

The commission's 4-1 vote, with Pamela Jones Harbour dissenting, was "very well reasoned," despite cries form critics who called for the recusal of Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras and voiced anti-competitive and privacy concerns, he said.

"People might advocate that the FTC become the super-regulator of the Internet but that would stifle the kind of innovation that is critical to the growth of these industries," Balto said. The agency took the privacy fears seriously and decided that "the marketplace is going to be the best discipline to make sure Google protects users' privacy."

The European Union's ongoing review of the pairing might be a different story because regulators there have "much broader concerns," Balto said. EU officials have scheduled a January hearing where privacy officials, consumer groups and Web firms will testify.

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Juliana Gruenwald

Tech Writer

E-Mail: jgruenwald@nationaljournal.com.


Juliana Gruenwald has been covering tech and telecom issues for more than a decade for National Journal, Interactive Week, BNA and Congressional Quarterly. This is her second stint with National Journal. She was recruited by NJ in 1998 to help launch its first tech policy publication, Technology Daily. She left in 2000 to cover international tech and telecom issues for Ziff Davis Media's Interactive Week magazine. She started her career at United Press International as the wire service's first Helen Thomas Intern. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. A Minneapolis native, she misses the lakes but not the cold.


Josh Smith

Tech Reporter

E-Mail: joshsmith@nationaljournal.com.


Josh Smith covers technology policy as a staff reporter for National Journal. He previously interned at National Journal Daily, a Senate press office, and the Deseret News in Salt Lake City where he covered the state legislature, courts, and crime. In 2009 he graduated with honors from Southern Utah University after managing an award-winning student newspaper as editor-in-chief. Josh has received state, regional and national awards for his political and policy reporting, including first place in CapitolBeat’s 2009 Best of Statehouse Reporting college competition. A native of drop-dead-gorgeous Utah, Josh lives in Virginia with his wife, Amber.