Google Experiences EU Antitrust Friction Over Doubleclick

An anonymous reader writes "Here in the US, the Google purchase of Doubleclick is old news. Despite a few hiccups, the news of April and May seems well in the past. In the European Union, though, the discussion begins anew again as Google seeks permission from EU antitrust regulators. From the article: 'The European Commission said it had set a review deadline of October 26, when it could approve the deal, give a two-week extension or open an in-depth, four-month investigation ... The Commission has already sent questionnaires asking competitors and customers what they think about the deal. Google has already filed with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and with the Australian competition regulator.'"

How is it anti-competitive?

[LingNoi]

I could set-up my own ad sense / double click service right now at cheaper rates then Google offers and there is nothing they could do to stop me.

Re:How is it anti-competitive?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes you could.

But you would have problems getting advertisers since you have a small viewer range.
And you would have problems getting sites to use your system, since you don't payout much yet, lacking advertisers.

Re:EU is right

[someone1234]

This doesn't mean Google is anticompetitive, more like the competition is incompetent.
It isn't Google who closed EU for Yahoo, and it isn't Google who set M$'s business plan.

Re:Asking the competitors what they think..

[Super_Z]

I've a question: who'll protect us from the monopoly of the EU? Did anyone ask YOU if you want them protecting your rights in THIS particular fashion?

The EU anti-competitive laws are set up to regulate the EU common market. The common market was set up as a multinational treaty. It is your goverments fault that it did not consult you before it entered this treaty, not the organization that was a result of this treaty. If you have issues with article 82 in this treaty, then you need to address your own goverment, which then in turn can either move to somehow renegotiate the treay or withdraw from it.

Re:Asking the competitors what they think..

[Carewolf]

I've a question: who'll protect us from the monopoly of the EU? Did anyone ask YOU if you want them protecting your rights in THIS particular fashion? Did someone ask you when EU slapped VAT and sales tax on online purchases? Do I have a choice, short of moving to a different continent.

They ask me, the European citizen. The candidate I voted for ran on that platform, and is now doing what he promised when I voted for him.

If you disagree, vote for someone else.