TPM Reader PB reads some tea leaves about Google …
Recently I was at an industry round table which included many of the tech players. We are all being affected by certain decisions made by Google and more importantly so are Internet users.
Like Microsoft in the 1990s, Google seems to take the position that consideration of government issues is a matter for their policy staff on the Hill and absolutely nobody else. Their lobbying efforts are write-only, they are there to tell Congress what to do and not to listen to what Congress has to say.
Having been involved in Internet technology at a senior level for 25 years, the thing I want most from my lobbyists and policy people is to tell me what is happening and what Congress and the agencies are trying to achieve. That does not mean I am necessarily going to do what they want but if I am not going to step into a meat grinder it is going to be on purpose and not because I didn’t bother to notice what I was doing.
Like Microsoft engineers in the 1990s, the Google engineers appear to have no idea of the level of concern their company has raised in Congress or just how many powerful enemies they have made.
