Google to Push Privacy Initiatives in U.S.
Asked about the controversy over whether Google's DoubleClick acquisition threatens people's privacy, Fleischer said one issue was lost in the debate: DoubleClick doesn't collect personally identifiable information when it serves ads. Instead, DoubleClick does collect IP addresses that give general location of the computer users and other information such as the language of the users, he said. "DoubleClick does its ad targeting anonymously," Fleischer said.
Privacy groups, including the Electronic Information Privacy Center and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), unsuccessfully pushed the FTC to reject the Google purchase of DoubleClick, saying the combined company would hold massive amounts of personal data.
Jeff Chester, CDD's executive director, was among the privacy advocates who met with Google executives this week. He praised Google for having "thoughtful" employees willing to discuss the issues, but said Google still doesn't seem to understand the privacy concerns that are part of the DoubleClick deal.
"It's clear that several of the Google privacy staff don't fully comprehend the privacy implications of DoubleClick," he said.
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