EU Approves Google-DoubleClick Merger

A number of readers sent word that EU regulators have cleared the Google-DoubleClick deal. "The commission said Google and DoubleClick 'were not exerting major competitive constraints on each other's activities and could, therefore, not be considered as competitors,' and even if DoubleClick could become an effective competitor in online intermediation services, 'it is likely that other competitors would continue to exert sufficient competitive pressure after the merger.'"

AdSense Terms now requires privacy policy

[MichaelCrawford]

I publish AdSense on one of my websites. One of the things I've always valuable about it over competing ad programs is that it doesn't cookie my visitors for tracking purposes.

But the new Terms and Conditions [google.com], to which all publishers must agree to remain in the program, now requires:

You must have and abide by an appropriate privacy policy that clearly discloses that third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your users' browser, or using web beacons to collect information, in the course of ads being served on your website. Your privacy policy should also include information about user options for cookie management.

That just plain sucks.

(A web beacon is also known as a web page; it's a small, invisible graphic placed in the page for tracking purposes.)

However, I'm hoping that a silver lining might be that, if advertising is made more effective by tracking, us publishers might get paid more. But I'm not counting on it.

Re:Did I miss something?

[Fozzyuw]

Google doesn't make money off search, they make money off ads. They make pretty much ALL their money off ads.

Your comment is overrated. Popular World of Warcraft database sites Thottbot.com and Wowhead.com make their money of ads. I imagine Slashdot makes a good deal of money off ads as well. So, does that mean they're competing with Google?

Re:Globalization

[oliderid]

Google is currently building a big Data Center here in Belgium($340 million).

for more info
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2007/Apr/27/google_data_center_project_in_belgium.html [datacenterknowledge.com]

And it looks like it is just the beginning of their European investment.

Re:time to anonymize, folks

[AlmostEarthling]

Day 1: I go to a pub and order a bitter. Bartender serves me, I'm happy.
Day 2: I go to the same pub and order a bitter. Bartender serves me, I'm happy.
Day 3: I go to the same pub and order a bitter. Bartender serves me, I'm happy.
Day 4: I go to the very same pub. Bartender serves me a bitter, just what I was about to order, I'm happy.

Is it that bad? As long as you're a customer, it hasn't always to be a drawback when you're somehow "tracked" and your host makes you offers that suit your taste.

F.