In an effort to stick it to the largest Internet search company, big media company Viacom and software giant Microsoft struck a major ad deal Wednesday that to share movies, TV shows, and video games on the web.

Wednesday (VIAB)

Google certainly can’t be thrilled that it’s still stuck in a holding pattern while its rival

After watching its rivals
“We have argued all along that the online advertising space is highly competitive and that there are no barriers to switching.  While some have apparently argued otherwise, [Microsoft and Viacom’s] announcement would seem to suggest that those arguments are flawed,” said Google policy spokesman Adam Kovacevich in a statement.

You have to give to the politicians and privacy advocates for their gumption.

“Both the FTC and E.C. have made it crystal clear that privacy is outside the scope of investigation. This is about competition and competition only,” says Ben Novick, a Google spokesman.

The same goes for

what we do know is that Google isn’t out of the woods. The FTC has publicly stated that it’s only ruling on antitrust issues, not privacy-related matters. But that hasn’t stopped privacy advocates from shifting attention away from competition to what Google knows about you.

Long after

something that’s been viewed 59,000 times on YouTube. Meanwhile, more than 12.4 million have watched Tay Zonday’s Chocolate Rain.

Last week Google was widely expected to get the green light from the Federal Trade Commission for its DoubleClick deal. It didn’t happen.

“Ironically, I think Google will have to make privacy concessions, not competitive concessions, to make the deal happen. That’s a really strange thing to come to task on a purely legal case,” says Greg Sterling, tktktktk consultant.
things to look out for: strong dissenting opinion from the FTC that could affect the European Commission.

concerns for privacy with aquantive, tktk, tktktk, but google is high-profile and opens itself up for