The search engine company has established a presence in the nation’s capital to better express itself to Congress.
“…the people who founded Hak Nam were angry, because the net had been very free, you could do what you wanted, but then the government and the companies, they had different ideas of what you could, what you couldn’t do.”
William Gibson writing about a completely fictional future in Idoru.
It took a long time for Microsoft to recognize the need for having lobbyists on Capitol Hill, before finally setting up shop in Washington. Google has found itself in need of a more regular presence there too, beyond being visited by countless Congressional pages and aides searching online for information.
Google posted on its official blog how it has hired Alan Davidson, Associate Director at the Washington DC-based Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), to be on its Washington team. It’s mission statement has been summarized in the post by senior policy counsel Andrew McLaughlin: “Our mission in Washington boils down to this: Defend the Internet as a free and open platform for information, communication and innovation.”
Mr. McLaughlin mentions several areas of policy that Google hopes to influence. One line will certainly be seized upon by those who see a GoogleNet in the future:
Should an innovator with a new online service or application be forced to get permission from each broadband cable and DSL provider before rolling it out?
While not directly mentioned, the statement certainly does appear to question legislation introduced by Texas House Congressman Pete Sessions that would prohibit telecom, information, or cable services from being offered by municipal governments.
The post also notes other policy issues on which Google wants to make its views known: copyrights and fair use (“Google believes in protecting copyrights while maintaining strong, viable fair use rights in this new digital age.”), intermediary liability (“…we don’t believe the Internet works well if intermediaries and ISPs are held liable for things created by others but made searchable through us.”), and other topics.
In the future, Google will disclose policy issues it hopes to influence outside the United States. See the full post here.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
