Don’t Believe the Hype: Google Still Backs Net Neutrality
March 14th, 2007 by tkarrThe blogosphere has been abuzz of late over a report that alleges Google is backing off its full commitment to Net Neutrality legislation. A recent story at GigaOm points to a quote from a Google exec that suggests the company is taking a different position.
This in turn fired up the AT&T shills and Astroturf groups who stumbled over themselves to declare disarray among Net Neutrality supporters.
But once again, the Net naysayers got it wrong. Surprised by what appeared to be a Google about face, we actually called the company to ask them where they stand. (You would hope that any good reporter would have done the same.)
“Google’s position on Net Neutrality has not changed one bit,” Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich told us. We asked him to put it in writing. He emailed us this:
“We strongly believe that Congress must take action to ensure a free and open Internet, in the face of a highly concentrated broadband market. Furthermore, Google’s position — which we testified to last year in Congress — is that broadband network operators should not be permitted to charge any content owner extra fees or extra tolls. We continue to support net neutrality legislation by Senators Dorgan and Snowe, and by Representative Markey, and we remain steadfast members of the coalition supporting net neutrality.”
 Schmidt: With the Public on Net Neutrality |
Adam echoes Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who just last week told Bloomberg TV’s Judy Woodruff :
“We believe that it is a violation of a fundamental assumption of the Internet, that every piece of the Internet is reachable. It’s called the end-to-end principle. And we believe that Net Neutrality, if it is given up, that new competitors, new entrants, new ideas, become much more difficult. So far we have been able to hold back the forces. It looks like we’ll have a good year.”
Good for Google. But it’s important to remember that this debate is not just between one corporate Titan and another. It’s a battle that pits the special interests of the few (phone and cable companies) against a vast grassroots effort involving more than a million Americans from every corner of society.
As much as they try, the phone companies and their paid apologists can’t ignore the people-powered campaign that has lifted Net Neutrality from obscurity and thrown a wrench in their plan to control Internet choice.
This debate is about ensuring that the Internet remains a engine for free speech, economic innovation and new ideas. We remain pleased Google sees it our way.
March 15th, 2007 at 12:01 am
I’m glad to hear you’re on a first name basis with Google’s PR guy. I always suspected as much, but it’s nice that you’ve admitted it publicly.
March 15th, 2007 at 1:42 am
For all those in Minnesota, Norm Coleman does NOT support Net Neutrality.
I recieved this e-mail after signing the petition and making my message
Dear Mr. Parker :
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts regarding net neutrality. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.
As a member of the Republican High-Tech Task force, I have been working closely on broadband related issues. On balance, I have concerns about proposals to create burdensome and arguably unnecessary regulations on the Internet. The Internet’s tremendous growth has been made possible not through increased government involvement, but from opening the Internet to commerce and private sector innovation. We should be careful about putting in place regulations that could negatively impact the further development of the Internet. According to a recent International Telecommunications Union study, the U.S. currently ranks 16 th in the world in terms of broadband penetration. Countries such as Korea , Japan and Canada currently rank higher than the U.S. We can ill-afford to fall further behind. Failure to close the gap will have serious consequences on our ability to compete.
Rather than a pre-emptive “net neutrality” law, I favor the approach proposed in the Senate communications reform bill (H.R. 5252) as reported on June 28, 2006 by the Senate Commerce Committee by a vote of 15-7. I believe that this bill strikes an appropriate balance between ensuring unfettered Internet access for all users and preserving the ability of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to offer services without being stifled by burdensome regulations. I am pleased that the Senate bill provides important consumer safeguards in the form of an Internet Consumer Bill of Rights, which among other things would prohibit ISPs from blocking access to the Internet. The bill would provide the Federal Communications Commission power to enforce this bill of rights.
You may also be interested to know that as part of my work on broadband issues, I introduced the Rural Renaissance II Act of 2005 (S. 1253) to support rural economic development. This bill would provide rural America loans and grants to rebuild and update its infrastructure, including high-speed Internet, which is necessary to attract new residents and businesses. While I am pleased that this measure has been incorporated into other pieces of legislation, it has not yet become law.
In addition, I am a cosponsor of S. 1294, the Community Broadband Act of 2005. This legislation would allow municipalities to offer Internet broadband services, so long as they abide by state and federal telecommunications laws and do not discriminate against private competitors. I am happy that this legislation has been included in the Senate bill.
Because the Senate did not act on H.R. 5252, S. 1253 or S. 1294 in 2005 or 2006, the bill s expired with the close of the 109th congress. Please know that I will take a close look at these pieces of legislation when it is reintroduced in the 110th congress and that I value your advice.
I appreciate hearing from you and hope you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you.
Sincerely,
Norm Coleman
United States Senate
March 15th, 2007 at 5:38 am
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March 15th, 2007 at 10:10 am
I think that what we need is a National Policy that ensures true high speed universal networks and access for all. High speed, high capacity networks will eliminate bandwith scarcity and will promote an open Internet. The question is who will build these networks. Public-Private partnerships in each state could be the answere. Projects like ConnectKentucky could serve as a model of joint efforts of state and local govewrnments, labor and private sector companies. Federal and state governments need to stimulate investment with appropriate measures for acountability.
March 17th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
[…] a buzz which alleges that Google was backing off its full commitment to Net Neutrality legislation, what has been denied recently, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, eBay, InterActive Corp., Microsoft and Yahoo! are the principle […]