NY Board Seeks Google DoubleClick Delay

Concerns about privacy have prompted the New York State Consumer Protection Board to ask the Federal Trade Commission for a delay in approving Google's proposed purchase of DoubleClick.

Hooking up Google's voluminous databases with DoubleClick's horde of tracking information about web surfers could be a privacy nightmare just waiting to explode. The

"If this information is misused or falls into the wrong hands, this data collection could seriously harm the privacy rights of consumers," she said.

Bockstein isn't interested in Google's nebulous attestations that it protects consume privacy. Her agency wants the steak and not just the sizzle, so to speak. The CPB asked the FTC to compel Google "to make full and public disclosure of its current data collection practices and contemplated data collection practices post-merger."

The CPB also listed what they want to see in a privacy protection program:

a plan to protect Google's database from cyberthieves;

consumer access to the personally-identifiable information in Google's database and the ability to delete or edit inaccurate information;

an opt-out mechanism that would allow an Internet user to prevent Google from tracking and storing information about the websites visited by an individual computer user; and,