The Federal Trade Commission is expected to make a decision as early as this week on whether to allow Google’s $750 million acquisition of AdMob, a source told mocoNews. And, according to All Things D, the two companies expect the FTC to block the acquisition because of antitrust concerns. The…

Behavioral targeting crusaders at the Center for Digital Democracy have joined with two other consumer advocates, U.S. PIRG, and the World Privacy Forum, on demanding that the FTC look into what they contend are growing privacy threats to consumers from the rise of ad exchanges. Among the companies cited in…

Nearly two months after Google’s rocky introduction of ‘Buzz,’ the sharing service remains under fire from privacy advocates; eleven congressmen have written a letter to the chairman of the FTC urging the agency to investigate complaints about the service—and, perhaps more ominously for Google (NSDQ: GOOG), also look into the…

Google’s proposed (and now delayed) acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob appears to be drawing even more regulatory scrutiny from the FTC. Bloomberg cites sources who say that regulators now want “sworn declarations” from Google (NSDQ: GOOG) competitors about the $750 million deal. The key sentence in the Bloomberg report…

If *Google* has its way, Highland Capital Partners and Globespan Capital Partners won’t be the only ones that benefit from Apple’s acquisition of Quattro Wireless ... It will reap some rewards from the deal, too. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is positioning the new deal as proof that there’s still plenty of…

The Federal Trade Commission is trying to calm some fears in the wake of its revisions to the FTC Act of 1980, amended to include bloggers in its guidelines for endorsements and testimonials. Fast Company does a good job of rounding up concerns like the fear of being fined $11,000…

First it pushed the online ad industry to establish stricter standards around behavioral targeting; now, the Federal Trade Commission is moving to regulate social-media advertising. The FTC is planning to hold marketers liable for false statements published on blogs and social networks—meaning companies or bloggers could get sued for saying…

The Federal Trade Commission is putting the advertising industry on notice: either implement stronger privacy protections when it comes to behavioral targeting or we will do it for you. In the FTC’s 48-page Staff Report on Behavioral Advertising (PDF), the commission includes a set of four revised principles, which are…

By the time the Federal Trade Commission stopped accepting public comments on its proposed behavioral targeting rules Friday afternoon, officials had only 31 submissions displayed on its website. Hardly the deluge that was predicted, but perhaps the agency was still getting caught up. As for what was listed there, predictably,…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), AOL (NYSE: TWX), Facebook, Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) and others have banded together to fight a proposed bill in the New York State Legislature that would curtail their ability to gather user data for behavioral targeting, WSJ reported. The coalition, which also includes eBay (NSDQ:…

The Federal Trade Commission’s new online ad guidelines appear to offer a laissez faire approach, which the Interactive Advertising Bureau and AOL (NYSE: TWX) have treated as an early Christmas present.  As we mentioned, the FTC is entrusting the industry to police itself as opposed to handing down strict rules…

The Federal Trade Commission approved the Google-DoubleClick acquisition Thursday despite privacy concerns—then released proposed principles to encourage better privacy controls for online behavioral advertising. The broad definition of online behavioral advertising: “various tracking activities engaged in by diverse companies across the Web.” The principles, in the works for years, are…

The FTC will not block Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick. Commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of closing its investigation, with Pamela Jones Harbour as the lone dissenter. In its statement, the commission said the deal was not likely to substantially lessen competition. It also said that while there are…

Deborah Platt Majoras, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, refuses to recuse herself from reviewing Google’s (NSDQ: GOOG) $3.1 billion merger with DoubleClick. Earlier this week, two consumer privacy groups, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy, issued a petition asking Majoras to remove herself from…

Just as Google’s (NSDQ: GOOG) $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick seemed it might be decided before the year is out, more roadblocks have been put in the way. Two consumer privacy advocates, The Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy, want FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras to…

So says this story from last week in TheDeal: Google’s (NSDQ: GOOG) acquisition of DoubleClick may get Federal Trade Commission clearance as early as this week without any conditions, according to a lawyer involved in the merger review and cited by the story. ClickZ also has a similar story, though…

The tone of last week’s Federal Trade Commission hearings suggest that regulation is coming, warned Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, as he opened up day two of the Ad:Tech conference in New York City: “The state of the industry is excellent, yet it’s also at…