Last week the FTC started an investigation into the Google/DoubleClick merger based, in part, on recommendations from a conglomerate of privacy groups. The information collected by both companies, say the groups, would represent an unprecedented concentration of private information in one company.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, those groups have amended their original complaint to the Federal Trade Commission:

The groups said in an amended complaint with the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday that the government should allow Google to collect personal information about users only after getting their permission, and then give users the right to review that information and, if they choose, delete it.

The issue of Google and privacy isn’t new. We’ve covered it here on numerous occasions in the past. In fact, I’ve talked about the fact that it’s impossible for users to delete Google-collected information a couple of times. Privacy groups have been keeping an eye on Google for a while as well. So none of the complaints filed with the FTC will be a big surprise.

The thing that’s different, however, is the scope of what’s happening. There’s been a lot of coverage of the FTC’s investigation. But I have yet to really read anything that puts the importance of this situation into perspective.

The outcome of this investigation - whatever it may be - will be precedent setting.

If the FTC concludes that there’s no harm or foul in Google’s information collection and the merging of that data with DoubleClick’s, it will open the door for even more consolidation of citizen data through future acquisitions. It could very well be the start of the over-sensationalized Google World Domination quest.

If the FTC concludes that there is a problem here, it could change the entire face of Google’s business, and thus, the Internet as a whole. What if Google were forced to share the data it’s collected with it’s customers? What if we were all able to go in delete our “records”?

I won’t be surprised by either outcome. I can easily see the FTC giving Google an all-access pass to gobble up more of our information. At the same time, I can see the FTC throwing down a roadblock for, at the very least, the purpose of conducting further investigations.

Am I reading too much into this? Is this standard operating procedure? Or are we sitting on the precipice of a major decision here?