Inside Google

When Google and Verizon (G-V) announced their “joint policy framework” on net neutrality, the search giant denied its new position had been shaped by its alliance with the telecom giant.

Four members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, on Monday called the Google-Verizon joint net neutrality plan too “industry-centered” and called on the Federal Communications Commission to regulate broadband.

The New York Times reported Monday that Google and Verizon reached their agreement on managing the Internet just as the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to forge “a stronger agreement” were close to succeeding.

I’m just back from a sweltering week in Washington, DC, convinced that those of us who care about protecting consumers’ online privacy have reason for optimism. There is growing interest in creating a “Do Not Track Me” list and mechanism to implement it.

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — On New York’s Long Island, it’s used to prevent drownings. In Greece, it’s a tool to help solve a financial crisis. Municipalities update property assessment rolls and other government data with it. Some in law enforcement use it to supplement reconnaissance of crime suspects. High-tech eyes in the sky — from satellite […]

As protests against Google’s changing position on net neutrality mount online (here, here and here) and at the company’s Mountain View campus, it’s worth parsing the search giant’s official response.

A Santa Monica-based consumer watchdog group this week decried a proposal by Google and Verizon Communications that it says would put an end to net neutrality and create a system of pay-to-play haves and have-nots when it comes to internet access.

A Wall Street Journal article this week details how Google is increasingly moving to maximize profits from the vast amount of personal data it has amassed in its global network of servers at the expense of consumers’ privacy. Google chairman Eric Schmidt once claimed Google put its money “where our principles are.” The Journal’s revealing article showing how profits triumph over privacy demonstrates the stark reality: Google puts its principles where the money is.

Verizon Communications Inc. and Google Inc. urged U.S. regulators to leave wireless Internet services outside most policies that are designed to prevent carriers from making some websites perform better than others. Consumer Watchdog, a consumer group based in Santa Monica, said the proposal “completely undermines the future of the Internet” because the wireless use of the Web is gaining in popularity.

John Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog, concurs. He says the Google-Verizon proposal “pays lip service” to Net Neutrality and contains two fundamental flaws.