Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company
The New
York Times
June 22, 1999, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section C; Page 6; Column
3; Business/Financial Desk
LENGTH: 165 words
HEADLINE: Privacy Groups See Danger in a Merger
BYLINE: Reuters
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, June 21
BODY:
Leading privacy advocates today blasted the
$1 billion merger of the Internet advertising firm Doubleclick Inc. with the
Abacus Direct Corporation, a consumer data collector, arguing that the
combination would collect far too much personal information
about consumers.
The nonprofit Electronic Privacy
Information Center and the privacy-oriented Web site Junkbusters
(http://www.junkbusters.com) said they would probably ask regulators to block
the deal if the companies proceeded. Combining Doubleclick's ability to follow
on-line surfers around the Internet with Abacus's vast data base of names,
addresses and phone numbers collected from direct mail vendors would "severely
undermine" privacy, the groups said in a letter to the companies that was also
sent to the Federal Trade Commission and top members of Congress.
"This
would represent a surveillance machine of unprecedented breadth and depth,
posing unacceptable privacy dangers to the public," the groups added.
http://www.nytimes.com
LOAD-DATE: June 22, 1999
