(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Google said it had filed for European Union permission to take over online ad tracker DoubleClick, a $3.1 billion deal that already has stirred concern about the control it will give Google over Internet advertising.
'We asked the European Commission to look at the proposed acquisition. We believe this deal is positive for both users and advertisers and fosters competition,' Google's antitrust counsel Julia Holtz said in a statement.
Search engine rival Yahoo immediately said the deal raised important questions about the future of advertising on the web.
'These questions warrant an in-depth debate and review by a broad range of Internet publishers, advertisers, service providers and governments in Europe and elsewhere,' said Yahoo Europe's managing director Toby Coppel.
Microsoft, which also had wanted to buy DoubleClick, said its views had not changed since April when it warned that the deal 'raised serious competition and privacy concerns' by giving unprecedented control over online advertising.
To help make its case against the DoubleClick deal, Microsoft plans to send its general counsel to Washington next week to testify at a US Senate hearing scheduled to examine whether the proposed acquisition would undermine competition and consumer privacy rights.
Using cookies and user logs, the world's largest Internet search engine compiles data on the search terms specific users enter, as well as other potentially sensitive online information.
Google says that information helps its search engine better understand its users and deliver more relevant results and advertisements.
Google took the unusual step of asking EU regulators to start looking at 'all aspects of the transaction' two months ago.
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