The Google of 2006 really loved neutrality. The Google of 2010 and after (not coincidentally after they made a major push into wireless) didn't. In fact the last time Google posted something meaningful about net neutrality to their policy blog was this 2010 flip flop by Google lawyer Richard Whitt, in which he insists the company didn't sell consumers out by covertly working with carriers to kill real protections (despite ample evidence to the contrary).
Fast forward a few years and apparently the mainstream press is only just now noticing Google's meaningful absence from the latest round of discussion. Very similar pieces by Bloomberg and ReCode the last week belatedly inform readers that Google's no longer the net neutrality champion people assumed they were:
quote:
Federal regulators have received more than 625,000 comments about a controversial proposal to allow broadband providers to offer fast-lane service on the Internet. None, so far, has been from Google. The search giant and other large tech companies, including Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and eBay, may support net neutrality rules, but they don t appear to be spending much time or money in Washington fighting for them.
Why? Because at this point, what we're really fighting over are business models like AT&T's controversial "
Sponsored Data" effort, which allows bigger, deeper-pocketed companies to pay a premium so that
their content gets preference over the content or services of smaller companies, which may not be able to pay such a troll toll. Google might have an interest in stopping
creative ISP peering shenanigans, but Wheeler has made it clear that debate won't be included in these rules.
In short, if net neutrality supporters are trusting for Google to lend a hand like they did with SOPA/PIPA, they may not want to hold their breath. Google may overall be more consumer friendly than the likes of AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, but they don't want any regulations that could box them into a corner when it comes to profits gleaned from new and "creative" mobile pricing efforts by mobile carriers, content companies and ad networks.
Without Google's help, putting Wheeler's love letter to AT&T, Verizon and Comcast to bed will require the grass roots networks to be tougher, more vocal and more intense than they were with SOPA (which is considered the largest consumer revolt in Internet history). The problem is this is no longer 2007, and the net neutrality debate has become so politically toxic and the discourse so distorted, it's making it harder than ever for the station wagon of consumer advocacy to get real traction in the mud.
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