Thursday, June 08, 2006 10:33 AM/EST

Google Enlists Its Own for Net Neutrality Fight

Google's the latest leading Internet concern to turn to its consumers for help in the fight over net neutrality.

Loosely-defined, net neutrality guarantees that Internet users have unfettered access to any Internet application or service.

Next week, both the U.S. Congress and Senate will address the issue via a vote on pending legislation and an important committee hearing.

In the meantime, Google's asking consumers to phone their elected representatives, and sign two online petitions, It'sOurNet and Save the Internet.com.

"Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight," Google CEO Eric Schmidt wrote in an open letter to Google users. The letter was included in a June 7 Google blog item that reads more like marching orders.

By trying to whip up a good, old-fashioned grassroots frenzy, Google's proving once again how the net neutrality debate, like the politics shaping the issue, makes for strange bedfellows indeed.

Google and Microsoft, usually bitter enemies, find themselves on the same side of the aisle on this issue.

Also, eBay, another of Google's supposed competitors, is rallying its troops as well. Chief Executive Meg Whitman has sent e-mails to a million eBay consumers asking them to contact their local reps to make their voices hear. There are scores of other major Internet firms taking the same actions as eBay, Google and Microsoft.

Broadband providers, namely the major U.S. telephone and cable operators, say the fight over net neutrality is overblown. What they merely want to do is create a kind of toll lane, where companies would pay for a speedier delivery of their features.

They say they have no intention of blocking or slowing down any features from firms not willing to pay up.

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Comments (12)

Max :

Ive written my reps...This is important, others should do the same.

Posted by Max | June 8, 2006 4:47 PM

Don't Regulate :

The rhetoric on this issue is amazing. What Google and others are pushing for is actually MORE REGULATION on the Internet. The internet was founded on light or no regulation and many of these companies wouldn't even exist if more regulations were put on the Internet in its infancy. Know how many times a service provider has abused its power of access? Exactly once. And the FCC quickly acted. Google, EBay and others are BILLION dollar companies and want to the government to REGULATE in order to give them an advantage. The service providers are simply saying "let the market decide." Isn't the market a better place for the Internet to flourish than Washington, DC?

Posted by Don't Regulate | June 8, 2006 6:45 PM

soldier :

FCC interventions to restore the old state empowered telephone company on the net against neutrality are absolutely redundant. The contributions of the State to the net are nil and therefore FCC should't burn its long fingers on the net. Moreover TLD and other servers should be distributed to China, Malaysia and in any case out of the United States to guarantee neutrality and democracy and fight against corrupt and criminal Syndicated Corporate America. Felten at Princeton sees it similar. Wait!

Posted by soldier | June 8, 2006 8:18 PM

Ben Byrne :

Hey "don't regulate," check your facts before making pronouncements. Net neutrality was the law of the land until very recently -- codifying NN isn't "MORE REGULATION," it's maintaining the status quo. NN guarantees low barriers to entry in the applications marketplace. When it goes by the wayside, the service providers can erect whatever barriers they want. They are NOT saying "let the market decide," they are saying, "give us the power to decide." They want leverage to affect the marketplace. Sometimes a light regulatory touch is necessary to increase competition. Or do you actually think Comast and Verizon will allow a third party like Vonage to continue to compete with them on their own network if they don't have to? Yeah, right.

Posted by Ben Byrne | June 8, 2006 10:21 PM

John :

First off, don't listen to everything you hear on the news. Google and their buddies want a free internet? Foolishness, they know the game. If congress passes a law which allows cable companies to charge websites on bandwidth, guess who will be able to afford the new costs? That’s right Google, and who won’t? The next Google like startup, the costs will be too high. Yes, a monopoly will happen immediately over the internet premium services. Google doesn’t want it? Hog wash, they welcome it.

Posted by John | June 11, 2006 6:04 PM

Google Watch :