Tech Community Outraged over Google Sell-Out
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @saintpepsi
I'm reposting this article because it needs to be seen. This was originally posted on http://www.savetheinternet.com/
The outrage has yet to dissipate over Google and Verizon’s pact to direct the Federal Communications Commission – an independent federal agency - to grant the companies’ Internet wish list: no Net Neutrality protections for wireless Internet and fake Net Neutrality protections for wireline Internet.
Over 300,000 people have signed a joint petition challenging Google to stand by its self-proclaimed edict, “Don’t Be Evil,” by abandoning its so-called deal with Verizon. Meanwhile bloggers, academics and non-profit organizations have all pounced on the companies after the duo announced their plan earlier this week.
But the tech and Internet start-up communities in particular have been expressing their ire at a company who has seemingly turned its back on its roots. Here’s a quick list of some of the best protests so far:
In a post called “Tech Companies, Google Sold You Out,” Stacey Higginbotham from GigaOm came out of the gate swinging:
Today’s compromise between Verizon — one of the nation’s largest ISPs (and largest wireless provider) — and Google on network neutrality is a big story, not necessarily because it’s going to change the policy discussion much, but because it marks Google selling out the tech and startup community so it can advance its own economic interests. If you weren’t aware of it by now, Google’s going to play the regulatory game for itself, not for the broader tech community.
Others in Silicon Valley had their own responses to the Google-Verizon pact, including Facebook. Spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement that the company “continues to support principles of Net Neutrality for both landline and wireless networks.” Noyes said:
Preserving an open Internet that is accessible to innovators -- regardless of their size or wealth -- will promote a vibrant and competitive marketplace where consumers have ultimate control over the content and services delivered through their Internet connections.
Smaller start-up companies joined the dog pile. Brad Burnham and Fred Wilson, partners at an early stage venture capital fund, warned in a New York Times commentary that Google’s proposal could crush emerging businesses:
Between the lack of any protection on the wireless side and the qualifiers and complexity on the wireline side, young startup companies will have difficulty finding financing and building businesses of scale. If an Internet access provider discriminates against a startup directly or through its network management practices, it is unlikely the startup could afford a long and expensive process to seek redress. So this proposal favors the incumbent applications and access providers.
Journalist Matthew Lasar of Ars Technica mocked the plans corporate loopholes disguised in pretty PR speak:
The Google/Verizon manifesto claims to preserve "transparency" on the 'Net, but the only really transparent thing about the plan is that it is packed with so many loopholes, a deep packet inspection powered P2P blocker the size of an M1 Abrams tank could roll through it without disturbing a telco executive's nap.
And of course we at Free Press and the SavetheInternet.com coalition vehemently oppose the plan. The coalition issued this response:
They are promising Net Neutrality only for a certain part of the Internet, one that they’ll likely stop investing in. But they are also paving the way for a new 'Internet' via fiber and wireless phones where Net Neutrality will not apply and corporations can pick and choose which sites people can easily view on their phones or any other Internet device using these networks.
It would open the door to outright blocking of applications, just as Comcast did with BitTorrent, or the blocking of content, just as Verizon did with text messages from NARAL Pro-choice America. It would divide the information superhighway, creating new private fast lanes for the big players while leaving the little guy stranded on a winding dirt road.
Do you oppose it, too? Tell Google.