A double-take for DoubleClick

I'm a pretty avid reader of all things news. Among the sites that I read on a regular basis are C|Net's news.com, CNN, Gizmodo, and Variety. There are many more that I check in on from time to time, but that's the cream of the crop for me. A blog post from Declan McCullagh caught my attention today.

From his prestigious post as a C|Net blogger he cried foul over this "Republican" (it was 12 out of 13 Republican committee members who signed it) drafted letter to their Subcommittee urging a more thorough review of the pending DoubleClick and Google merger. McCullagh poses the question of whether this is partisan retribution against Google because a lot of Google staffers are Democrats.

Whether this was a Democrat or Republican proposed idea, I say it's about time that the government got a little more involved in the investigation of these types of mega-mergers. I'm pretty sure that everyone has heard of Google, but not so many people know about DoubleClick or it's ad metric and tracking system. The entire idea of a search engine that records every search word ever entered and the unique tracking capability of a company like DoubleClick is frightening.

If the merger is approved and Google becomes one with DoubleClick, will you think twice about typing in your search at Google? You might know that Google records what you look for, and then they'll have the capability to combine that with other geographic and demographic information to more accurately identify you - or rather whoever uses your computer.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to hear Google's CEO Eric Schmidt speak to NAB attendees. He really impressed me as a thoughtful, extremely smart, and very articulate business leader. He's well aware of the simple fact that if Google were to piss off too many people, another search engine is just a mouse-click away for everyone. The question could be posed: Does anyone really know what search engine that they could or should use if Google's "do no harm" philosophy were to suddenly become "maximize all profits" and they began to use your private information in ways unthinkable today?

In the spirit of our effort with Toast (you have joined us at DrinkMePictures.com, right?) which is reliant on people joining and telling others about what we're doing - I'd like to encourage everyone to use this opportunity to call your Representative and let them know how you feel about the Google and Doubleclick merger. Don't know how you feel about it? Well Google it... oh wait... can you trust their results to give you the unbiased results you expect when it comes to information about them?

It should be noted that this very blog is hosted by Blogger.com which is a Google.com owned company. Right now, I think they are a good company, but it is a little scary to think of what they could be in 10 years. Our "democratic" voice will be heard by how we support them as a public company.

The Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection is made up of the following Democratic members (as well as 13 other Republican members of Congress):

Bobby L. Rush, IL, Chairman
Jan Schakowsky, IL Vice Chair
G. K. Butterfield, NC
John Barrow, GA
Baron P Hill, IN
Edward J. Markey, MA
Rick Boucher, VA
Edolphus Towns, NY
Diana DeGette, CO
Charles A. Gonzalez, TX
Mike Ross, AR
Darlene Hooley, OR
Anthony D. Weiner, NY
Jim Matheson, UT
Charlie Melancon, LA
John D. Dingell, MI (Ex Officio)

The "N" Word is Making the Rounds

It happened so fast the other night when I went for a late-night omelette snack at the world famous Roxy cafe here in downtown Portland. There I was at almost 3am sitting at the counter waiting for my food amongst the zombie-fare of after-bar patrons all decked out in their Halloween garb. Behind me a group of four underage kids settled into their table when the noxiously intoxicated fellow sitting to my right took notice of their arrival.

I had been conjuring up a little smalltalk with this guy while I waited when he suddenly spins around and demands of one of the kids behind us, "what the hell are you staring at?" This quickly degenerated into him noticing and taking issue with one of them being black and also wearing a wig. As ridiculous as all this was, I couldn't believe my ears and the trash that was coming out of his mouth - in Portland, Oregon no less! He slung multiple bigoted insults, racial slurs, and threats at this poor kid until he finally stopped long enough and returned to the forward facing direction for me to ask him what he was thinking. His reply... "I just like to fight - and I'm really drunk." I should add that this guy was in his mid 20's and the kids were likely all under 18.

Moments later, one of the girls in the group of kids had a flash of brilliant thinking and brought this guy's behavior and ridiculous hate speech to the attention of Mikey - their waiter and patron saint. Without waivering for a moment, Mikey quickly replies to the guy next to me, "if you used any of those words, you're going to need leave here right now." Amazingly the guy didn't offer any further protests or insults and just walked out.

This incident was ironic to me because of the recent stupid racist comments by A&E's bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman. It is unbelievable that people are still this ignorant and biased today. What makes the story relevant to the world of film and employer/employee relationships everywhere is the great example Mikey provides of taking responsibility and having the self-confidence to act when necessary. The great part here is that I believe the Roxy's owner has given their staff the implicit charge to handle whatever may walk through the door. It's really fantastic to see it all work like it's supposed to.

Too often, companies remove all power from the people charged within their workforce to carry out their business and with the loss of power, employees respond by not taking ownership in their own work. How can anyone be expected to do their job if they're not given the respect and trust necessary for them to do the right thing without having to ask permission?

Hire great people, give them the most latitude possible while still requiring them to be accountable, and most of all - don't create policies that strip the power of decision and action from the skilled people you've entrusted to carry out your business. It seems like common sense, so why isn't this common any more?

Major props to Mikey for diffusing a bad situation and doing the right thing!

I'd love to hear your thoughts... comment or e-mail me.