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Google in politics

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  Google in politics Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> - 2014-04-18 11:42 +0100
    Re: Google in politics RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-04-18 20:58 +0000

#2421 — Google in politics

"[...] Behind-the-scenes machinations demonstrate how Google — once a
lobbying weakling — has come to master a new method of operating in
modern-day Washington, where spending on traditional lobbying is rivaled
by other, less visible forms of influence.

That system includes financing sympathetic research at universities and
think tanks, investing in nonprofit advocacy groups across the political
spectrum and funding pro-business coalitions cast as public-interest
projects. [...]"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-google-is-transforming-power-and-politicsgoogle-once-disdainful-of-lobbying-now-a-master-of-washington-influence/2014/04/12/51648b92-b4d3-11e3-8cb6-284052554d74_story.html

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#2428

On 2014-04-18, Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> wrote:
> "[...] Behind-the-scenes machinations demonstrate how Google — once a
> lobbying weakling — has come to master a new method of operating in
> modern-day Washington, where spending on traditional lobbying is
> rivaled by other, less visible forms of influence.
>
> That system includes financing sympathetic research at universities
> and think tanks, investing in nonprofit advocacy groups across the
> political spectrum and funding pro-business coalitions cast as
> public-interest projects. [...]"
>

I guess the transition was inevitable, wasn't it: the inexorable slide,
one small decision at a time, as new and more managers come on board,
each one more removed from the founders and that naive, now historical
mantra - something about evil - and instead it's just business, after
all.  Or maybe they realized that at their position, size, and ambition,
they need a cooperative regulatory environment and sympathetic
lawmakers, and so on.  Or maybe they studied and have learned from the
legal woes Microsoft endured over the 90s and 00s by having done a less
effective job at lobbying (or hell, maybe the opposite!).  Either way, I
guess it's hard to retain the spirit of a plucky startup when you're at
tens of thousands of employees and billions of dollars.  It takes a
corporate mindset to keep piloting the ship, and those corporate types
all speak a language of their own.

Doesn't really bode well for the consumer though.  Although I guess it
almost never does.

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