Google has firmly denied that it has “sold out” on net neutrality, following widespread criticism of its proposal that mobile network operators should be allowed to control the speeds at which content is delivered to mobile devices.
Richard Whitt, Google’s Washington Telecom and Media Counsel, said that rather than abandoning the principle of an open internet, Google is its biggest defender.
“Google has been the leading corporate voice on the issue of network neutrality over the past five years. No other company is working as tirelessly for an open Internet,” Whitt wrote in a blog post.
In a joint proposal this week, Google and US mobile operator Verizon attempted to break the impasse in talks about regulation of US landline and mobile broadband provision. The two companies proposed that landline providers should not be allowed to prioritise certain traffic, the same restriction should not apply to mobile services.
“The joint proposal would allow broadband providers to offer certain specialised services to customers, services which are not part of the Internet,” by which he means what Google has started referring to as the public internet. “So, for example, broadband providers could offer a special gaming channel, or a more secure banking service, or a home health monitoring capability — so long as such offerings are separate and apart from the public Internet.”
Whitt denied that this was a commercial agreement, whereby Google may in future “buy” additional bandwidth to deliver its services more quickly. Nor does it have anything to do with the fact that Verizon is the major carrier of phones running Google’s Android software (such as the HTC Droid pictured).
“This is a policy proposal — not a business deal. Of course, Google has a close business relationship with Verizon, but ultimately this proposal has nothing to do with Android.”
It is, however, a significant shift from the position that the company was taking four years ago, when chief executive Eric Schmidt accused mobile operators of wanting to “build a two-tiered system”, precisely whet he is now suggesting.
“Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody — no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional — has equal access. But the phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all Internet access, want the power to choose who gets access to high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest,” Schmidt wrote. “Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight.”
