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Privacy advocates want U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras to recuse herself from ruling on Google Inc.'s $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick Inc. because she formerly worked at Jones Day, a Washington law firm that is advising the online advertising company on the deal. Majoras's husband, John Majoras, is also a partner at the firm, said the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDC) in a motion filed late Wednesday with the agency.

The privacy groups "do not accept the premise that the spouse of the chairman should represent a client in the pending matter and profit from an outcome that is favorable to the client," they said in the motion. "Such an outcome calls into question the ability of the commission to render decisions that are fair and just. Ethical guidelines were established to prevent precisely such situations."

Majoras has previously recused herself in antitrust matters before the FTC where a similar conflict of interest occurred with Jones Day, the privacy groups said. These included the agency's review of Procter & Gamble's $57 billion purchase of Gillette in 2005, in which Jones Day advised the buyer; Valero Energy Corp.'s $8.1 billion deal in 2005 for Premcor, in which Jones Day served as counsel to Valero; and Federated Department Stores Inc.'s $11 billion acquisition in 2005 of May Department Stores Co.

Google encountered more headwind to the DoubleClick deal on Wednesday when Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, reportedly raised concerns about the transaction's impact on consumer privacy in a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

The FTC has received an extension to its Thursday deadline to rule on the acquisition, according to News.com's NewsBlog. The European Commission, which opened an in-depth probe into the acquisition on Nov. 13, must rule on it by April 2. Australian regulators approved the merger on Oct. 30. - Alain Sherter

See Nov. 29 story from Tech Confidential
See Sept. 2005 story from TheDeal.com
See Sept. 2005 story from TheDeal.com
See August 2005 story from TheDeal.com
See Dec. 12 story from CNNMoney.com
See Dec. 12 post from NewsBlog

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