Federal Trade Commission FTC Google
Consumer Groups Urge FTC Review of Data Consolidation
A coalition of consumer groups has asked the Federal Trade Commission to undertake a comprehensive review of the impact on the American public of the growing consolidation of consumer data in the digital marketing industry. The groups asked the FTC to launch an investigation and hold a public workshop on protecting privacy in online transactions. EPIC has repeatedly urged the FTC to undertake a similar review. In 2007, EPIC opposed Google's acquisition of Doubleclick, the Internet advertising firm, citing the risks of growing consolidation of user data. In 2000, EPIC also opposed Doubleclick's acquisition of Abacus, a large catalog database firm. Privacy officials outside the US have begun to scrutinize these deals more closely.