(File Photo)

    BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Consumer privacy groups have sought to derail Google's 3.1 billion U.S. dollar deal to buy online advertising company DoubleClick, filing a complaint with U.S. regulators on privacy grounds, according to media reports Monday.

    Groups led by the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed the complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Saturday arguing the merger would violate agreed limits on how much data advertisers collect on consumers and seeking an injunction. 

    DoubleClick responded in a statement by denying any plan by Google and itself to link the various pools of anonymous data their automated services collect on consumer Web surfing and Internet search behavior.

    DoubleClick serves up billions of graphical display ads every day from corporate marketers on thousands of sites across the Web. Google, the leader in an alternative form of online marketing that places ads alongside Web search results, would emerge as an even more powerful force in the online ad market if the DoubleClick deal closes as planned later in 2007.

    DoubleClick denied that the data it collects through its system for serving graphical ads to Web site visitors would be combined with Google data on consumer Web-searching habits so as to keep tabs on consumers' spending or browsing habits.

    DoubleClick said information collected by its ad-delivery technology is retained by marketing clients who use its system, not DoubleClick itself, and that those rights would not change once Google acquires it. DoubleClick has only limited rights to use such data to identify aggregate trends, the company said.

    (Agencies)