Google to push privacy initiatives in U.S.

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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