A handful of Democratic lawmakers led by Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren added their name to a growing chorus of activists calling on the Federal Trade Commision to slam the brakes on Amazon’s $1.7 billion iRobot acquisition. The lawmakers warned the deal if allowed to go through, would harm consumers and, “reduce competition in the home robotics market.”

…

“Amazon is once again using its market power and immense capital to take over another sector,” American Economic Liberties Project Senior Policy Analyst Krista Brown told Gizmodo. “Instead of investing in its own R&D to compete on the merits (which it tried to do and failed), it is choosing to buy iRobot’s leading position and entrench its power in yet another business line.”

Brown, who also said she supported the lawmaker’s letter, said the Amazon deal would go beyond the smart vacuum market and amounted to “moat building” to keep rivals at bay.

“Amazon will know about your health, your home, what you watch, what you read, what you eat,” Brown said. it’s an impossible amount of data and consumer insight to compete with on fair terms.

The lawmakers’ letter follows on the heels of another letter signed by more than a dozen activist groups calling on the agency to kill the acquisition. In that case, the organizations, which included Fight for the Future, Public Citizen, and Athen amongst their ranks, argued the deal would “endanger fair competition,” and jeopardize consumer privacy.

…