Facing obstacles both here and abroad to win antitrust approval for its purchase of DoubleClick, Google committed to the European Union's antitrust regulator in Brussels that it "will keep certain DoubleClick business practices unchanged," Bloomberg reports.

Google announced its intention to purchase DoubleClick back in April for $3.1 million. Immediately, privacy advocates called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the deal, which brings together two powerful digital entities capable of gathering vast amounts of personal information and tracking individuals online.

Julia Holtz, Google's London-based competition lawyer, said in an emailed statement that the acquisition is "a good deal'' for publishers, advertisers and users."

But competitors like Yahoo! disagree. "Combining Google's search business with DoubleClick's ad technology will strengthen Google's dominant position in Europe,'' Andrew Cecil, head of public policy for Yahoo Europe, said in an emailed statement. "The end result will be higher prices for internet publishers and advertisers and less choice for European consumers.''

According to Bloomberg, the commission will issue a ruling by Nov. 13 rather than the original Oct. 26 deadline. The commission can approve the transaction or open a four-month extended review.