Google joins the titans of Silicon Valley lobbying

With great power comes even greater headaches. Just ask Google.

The company's transition from upstart to Goliath has multiplied its legal and policy problems. There may be no better measure of this phenomenon than Google's expansion of its lobbying activities on Capitol Hill.

In just five years, the search engine giant has gone from almost no presence in Washington to spending more money on lobbying than all but one other Silicon Valley company in 2009. And in the past three months, Google topped all other valley spenders.

"The growth in their lobbying reflects what the company has become," said Dave Levinthal, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics. "They've gone from a tiny company to a behemoth."

Google's drive for influence in D.C. extends beyond dollars and cents, and demonstrates remarkable savvy in the ways of Washington. These include Google funding policy fellowships and hosting politicians at the Googleplex, and Google employees taking jobs in the Obama administration.

Google seems determined not to repeat the mistake Microsoft made in the 1990s when the software company ignored politics until it was ensnared in an epic antitrust lawsuit.

There's certainly nothing unusual about a company aggressively pushing its agenda. But in Google's case, I think there's a disconnect between the company's view of these efforts, and how they look to outsiders.

Google has always been a company that believes it has a special mission to make the world better, and it sees its lobbying and policy efforts as part of that crusade. In truth, this massive investment in lobbying is just one more sign that Google is acting like the big corporation it has become.

That's neither good, nor evil. Sometimes Google's interests align with the interests of consumers, and sometimes they don't. But while Google believes it's not evil, its size means many others will increasingly question whether its motives aren't less than good.

I put this idea to Alan Davidson, head of U.S. public policy for Google, who said it's not true, and that Google works to show humility.

"We've always known that with growth comes responsibility," Davidson said. "We're grateful for the company's success. We know as we grow, we need to show that we're a responsible industry leader."

It seemed like just yesterday we were writing stories about "Google goes to Washington" as the Mountain View company opened its lobbying office in 2005. Now, Google's right at home.

In 2009, Google spent $4.03 million on its lobbying efforts, up from $260,000 in 2005, according to U.S. Senate records. In the valley, that's second only to Oracle, which spent $5.1 million. And in the fourth quarter of 2009, Google outspent Oracle $1.12 million to $1.05 million.

While Google's expansion is extraordinary, it does reflect an increase in the valley's investment in lobbying. The top 10 valley companies increased their lobbying expenditures from a total of $12.4 million in 2005 to $26.4 million in 2009. Only Hewlett-Packard, a company that's been around for decades, came close to matching Google's expansion, growing from $380,000 in 2005 to $3.62 million last year.

"There was always a plan for steady growth in our presence," Davidson said. "We knew when we started the office here, the issues facing our users and industries were only going to grow out here in Washington."

Davidson notes that on some of the issues that Google lobbies for, it now butts heads with companies that spend far more on lobbying. While Davidson wouldn't say which ones, he's most likely talking about telecom companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, whose expenditures ranged from $12 million to $17 million in 2009. Google looks at them, and still sees itself as the guppy.

And in the tech industry, Microsoft and IBM spent more last year, $6.7 million and $5.4 million respectively. But the gap is closing fast.

Davidson said Google's efforts are benign, aimed at educating politicians and making sure its users' interests are being heard.

"We started this office with the same philosophy as we did the business," he said. "If you start with the user and focus on that, everything else will follow. If what we're doing is good for our users and the Internet community, then it will be good for us in the long term."

The problem is that the company often seems so certain of its mission that it can't believe anyone would question its motives.

For instance, in a New York Times op-ed last fall, co-founder Sergey Brin painted Google's efforts to scan books as a crusade to protect the world's knowledge against the ravages of history. He bristled over criticisms of a settlement with publishers and authors: "In reality, nothing in this agreement precludes any other company or organization from pursuing their own similar effort. The agreement limits consumer choice in out-of-print books about as much as it limits consumer choice in unicorns."

Sorry, but it is hubris to expect us to genuflect and accept that Google is doing this purely for the benefit of mankind. Google is scanning books because it expects to make money in some fashion down the road.

Lobbying on behalf of its position doesn't make Google evil. It just means it's a big corporation. But for a company with a messianic belief in its purpose, that's a hard truth to accept.

Source:http://www.mercurynews.com

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