Google Getting Goverphobia?
October 24, 2009
I found the article in the Washington Post amusing. After several grueling days laboring in the Federal vineyard, I know the joys and sorrows of public service work. “Google Chief Favors net Neutrality but Is Wary of Regulation” struck me as one indication that Google is getting smarter by the minute in Beltway Land. In some ways, Google has been floating above the normal commercial traffic jam in DC. Now the company has a number of tough-to-manage situations taking management time. There’s the grousing about copyright. The FCC is asking questions. Competitors are putting itching powder on the swivel chairs of certain highly placed officials. On and on. The story by Mike Musgrove revealed:
As for Google’s relationship with Washington’s power structure, Schmidt said the tech industry is still not as strong as others in its lobbying representation on Capitol Hill, but that that’s fine with him. Google, and the tech industry, does better for itself when it focuses on ideas and innovation — and not politics, he said. “The part of politics in Washington that’s ‘who you know’ and all that kind of stuff, it’s just not very interesting,” he said.
Based on my research into Google, when something is not “interesting”, there is a subtext. Unfortunately, Google cannot make the political and legal processes go away. I think Google is getting a touch of goverphobia which is one way to prevent Potomac Fever.
Stephen Arnold, October 24, 2009
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
