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The Federal Trade Commission has ruled that the merger between Google and DoubleClick does not violate anti-trust laws, giving it the go-ahead from the American side.  Across the pond, however, the European Commission has yet to make its ruling.

The FTC ruling states that the merger “is unlikely to substantially lessen competition” in the online ad industry (Ars Technica).  The commission ruled that there were “numerous competitors, several of which have been bolstered by recent acquisitions,” citing Microsoft’s acquisition of aQuantive, Time Warner’s AOL acquisition of Tacoda, and Yahoo’s acquisition of Right Media (Wired).

Opponents of the deal (including Microsoft and AT&T) say that it gives the combined companies an unfair advantage in two aspects of the ad market.  Some privacy groups have also expressed concern over “access to a huge amount of data on individual Web-surfing habits” that the merged companies would have.  In response to those concerns, the FTC issued a set of “behavioral advertising privacy principles.”  However, to quote a pirate, “they’re more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules.”

The European Commission is expected to take a tougher stance on the merger.  However, Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, believes that Microsoft’s privacy woes with the EU could give Google an advantage, though it could face restrictions such as not being able to share user information between divisions or being forced to sell off some assets (Wired).

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