It seems Google is getting concerned about how the US federal Government might regulate the Internet and/or the practices of the search engines that spider it. Ealier today Google announced it had hired the services of registered lobbiest Alan Davidson, an Associate Director of the Center to Promote Democracy and Technology.
According to the GoogleBlog, the mission of the lobby is to, “Defend the Internet as a free and open platform for information, communication and innovation.” The blog notes the following as issues that are especially important to Google: Net neutrality, (opening the use of the net and broadband infrastructure to all US citizens without regulatory restriction), copyright and fair use, intermediary liability, privacy and spyware, trademark dilution, patent law reform, and voice-over-Internet-protocol (VOIP) regulation.
The blog entry promises to explain what steps Google will take to lobby other global governments.