Yahoo-Google Deal Ignites Concerns from Lawmakers

Posted by Rightcopywriter Team

June 29, 2008

Yahoo made an announcement recently that it has signed a non-exclusive advertising agreement with Google, after months of efforts to fend off the Microsoft takeover. Some things remain unchanged though, like the many people and bodies that were concerned about the Yahoo-Microsoft merger; there are already skeptics who are ready with concerns over the Yahoo-Google agreement. Some prominent lawmakers are among them.

Expressing his concern by writing a letter on Thursday to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang about the deal recently announced with Google, the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) wrote:

“I am concerned about how this collaboration will impact competition within the online search advertising industry.”

Not only has Barton expressed concern over competition in the online advertising industry but also with regards to the matter of privacy and the amount of data of an individual that can be gathered by Yahoo and Google.

Barton expressed concerns about how the relationship between Google and Yahoo will affect the collection, storage, and use of data relating to an individual’s online activity.

Barton has requested Yang to provide him and the committee with answers to a few questions that have been asked.

Amongst the questions asked are:

• who initiated the talks about the ad deal

• what is the criteria that Yahoo will be using to determine the search queries and pages that Google ads will appear on

• how was the criteria developed and how it will help Yahoo users

• how Yahoo came to the projected $800 million in increased revenue as a result of the deal

• what kind of data Google will have access to

• how cookies will be handled

• why the deal is not anticompetitive.

Yang has been given time until July 18 by Barton and the committee to issue a reply. Not only the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but also the chairman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, Senator Herb Kohl will be examining the deal closely. Although both Yahoo and Google have said that the deal is not anticompetitive, they have given the lawmakers some time to review the deal by delaying it for a few months.

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