WASHINGTON - A letter sent today to Google from the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s ranking Republican, U.S. Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, pursues privacy issues raised last month and poses several questions about the proposed merger of the Google search engine and DoubleClick, the Internet advertising giant.

Republican members of the Consumer Protection Subcommittee first expressed concerns in early November. "They say they just want their ads to match our behavior," said Barton at the time, "but I wonder if the intentional collection and coordination of all that personal data about us is such a good idea, and I wonder if I’m the only one who is feeling a little uncomfortable about it."