WebProNews

House Republicans have demanded a Congressional hearing over the privacy implications of Google's pending DoubleClick purchase.

Texas Republican Joe Barton penned his signature as one of a dozen fellow minority party members asking for a hearing about the Google and DoubleClick privacy issues related to their deal.

A Reuters report said Illinois Democrat Bobby Rush, head of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, has not commented yet on the letter. The report cited Barton's opinion about Google and privacy, conveyed by a statement from the Representative:

"Google is an information colossus already, but add on DoubleClick's marketing power and you produce a single commercial entity that can know more about you and me than nearly everybody but mom and the IRS," Rep. Joe Barton of Texas said in a statement, referring to the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service.

"It seems to me that policymakers should know more about Google's intentions than we do, and a serious hearing to get at the facts looks like a very good idea," Barton said.

It's nice to hear House Republicans discover an interest in the privacy of American citizens. But a posturing hearing over Google's virtually-approved treasure hoard of information from DoubleClick to complement its existing search data means little without sterner legislation proposed to protect the millions of people profiled in that data.