It would appear that last week’s statement from Federal Trade Commission head Deborah Platt Majoras has done nothing to placate those who believe she should step down in the commission’s review of the Google-DoubleClick acquisition. Although Majoras denied that her husband had a vested interest in Jones Day, a law firm that has worked with DoubleClick in the past, privacy groups still claim she must recuse herself, and have even threatened legal action.
One of the central issues in the debate concerns whether or not Jones Day will be representing DoubleClick before the FTC. According to Majoras, the firm will not be, but a Google search of the firm’s site by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) turned up a cached page from Nov. 7 stating that “Jones Day is advising DoubleClick Inc., the digital marketing technology provider, on the international and U.S. antitrust and competition law aspects of its planned $3.1 billion acquisition by Google Inc.” The page has since been deleted, leaving EPIC to suspect a cover-up. The group has filed a freedom of information act demanding full disclosure in Jones Day’s role.
Furthermore, EPIC denies that the status of Majoras’ husband as a non-equity partner in Jones Day leaves his wife in the clear. The problem: his role in the firm as an antitrust expert with responsibility for business development in Washington D.C. too explicitly ties him (and by proxy, his wife) to the case’s outcome, whether he serves to benefit from it financially or not.
According to Computerworld, during a conference call on Tuesday, representatives from both EPIC and the Center for Digital Democracy mentioned that a lawsuit may be forthcoming if Majoras does not decide to step down on her own.
