Questions for Google
The ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to Google's chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt yesterday, posing some rather pointed questions about the proposed merger of Google and DoubleClick.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and other Republican members of the Consumer Protection Subcommittee first expressed concern about the deal last month, citing privacy issues. Barton said he wondered "if the intentional collection and coordination of all that personal data about us is such a good idea."
In his letter, Barton recalled a meeting with Schmidt that occurred last month, during which Schmidt offered his staff's assistance in providing information about Google's targeted advertising practices. But Barton said that when he tried to take him up on the offer by requesting that two Hill staffers visit Mountain View, Google officials "deemed the dates inconvenient, and the request was denied."
"Since then, all efforts to reach a mutually agreeable time have been rebuffed, and it begins to seem that no date for a visit is sufficiently convenient for Google. Your warm initial invitation followed by Google's chilly response to a proposed visit by Committee counsels is disconcerting," Barton wrote.
He then listed 24 detailed questions about how Google retains and uses personal data and specifics about the company's privacy policy. Barton also wants to know more about how Google tracks cookies and how it defines behavioral targeting. He asked the company to respond by next Tuesday.
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