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Google Defends Itself Against Allegations of “Selling Out”

“Don’t be evil” may have seemed like a relatively low bar for Google to set for itself back in its halcyon days as a challenger upstart, but now as Google continues to play an increasingly large and pervasive role in the way business, individuals and even governments engage the Internet, living up to that motto is going to require a much more delicate touch. This has been illustrated most recently by the backlash Google received after issuing a joint proposal along with Verizon Wireless regarding FCC regulation of broadband Internet access.
Overall, the proposal called for enforceable prohibition against discrimination practices and imposition of transparency requirements for broadband providers. In essence, Google and Verizon are seeking legislation that would make it illegal for broadband providers to block or limit access to certain websites or give certain Internet services preferential treatment in terms of bandwidth and speed. This is the concept of net neutrality in a nutshell.
What has detractors up in arms, however, is a loophole left in the Google-Verizon proposal—while the companies take a strong stance in support of net neutrality for “wireline” broadband (i.e. cable or DSL access utilized by the majority of desktops and laptops), they recommend exempting wireless broadband (EDGE, 3G, 4G, WiiMax and other data networks used by smartphones and mobile broadband laptops) from the non-discriminatory regulations. Google argues that the “still-nascent” mobile marketplace is too competitive to regulate at this juncture, and instead recommends that the Government Accountability Office be required to report to Congress once a year regarding whether the current policies were working to protect consumers.
For this, Google received much criticism from the very same groups that lauded its previous hardline stance in favor of net neutrality. Google’s move into the mobile market via its Android smartphone platform have raised eyebrows regarding possible conflicts of interest, and to some, Google’s partnership with Verizon smacks of the very corporate collusion that it’s motto of non-evilness seems to decry.
On its public policy blog, however, Google argued that it hasn’t “sold out,” so much as it has begun working towards a favorable compromise. Google stresses the victories it scored on behalf of net neutrality—namely, getting Verizon to voluntarily abide by non-discrimination and transparency practices and support the first FCC enforceable laws on the matter. “We’re not saying this solution is perfect, but we believe that a proposal that locks in key enforceable protections for consumers is preferable to no protection at all,” argued Richard Whitt, Google’s Washington telecom and media consul.
However, many industry experts see wireless broadband as the next paradigm shift in terms of access the Internet, and many critics see partially closing the door on net neutrality for mobile broadband as an inexcusable concession. Should mobile broadband supplant wireline broadband as the dominant means by which consumers access the Internet in the same way broadband has already replaced dial-up, the net neutrality regulation posited by Google-Verizon will likely do little to protect the openness of the Web.
For now, however, all of this is merely posturing. Google and Verizon’s proposal is just that—a suggestion for how the FCC might regulate the developing broadband industry. But this consensus between a perceived champion of net neutrality and one of its most formidable foes gives ominous clues as to how the political dealmaking might unfold if a bill were introduced.

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Tags: Android, Google

This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 11:09 am by Jack Busch and is filed under Cell phone plans, Verizon Wireless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.