Google's Government Conundrum

Google's Government Conundrum: "In a free-market system, it is not the role of government to pick winners and losers in the marketplace. Yet, today Google finds itself pushing for heavy government regulation of its competitors, while simultaneously lobbying to prevent regulations on itself.

On the one front, Google is heading a major coalition lobbying for so-called 'Net Neutrality' rules to regulate the Internet for the first time in history. The effort would essentially turn private Internet service providers (ISPs) into public utilities, by giving the Federal Communications Commission vague authority to dictate how ISPs manage their networks that comprise the Internet. A win would solidify Google’s powerful place in the market while undercutting ISPs; it would give Google permission to continue “free-riding” across ISPs networks with the government’s blessing.

Yet, Google now finds itself in the unusual position of fighting back against the government on two fronts. First, Google is pushing back against the Federal Trade Commission’s absurd project on the “Reinvention of Journalism.” A draft paper from the FTC last month suggested $35 billion in higher taxes to expand public media and undercut private news outlets. Amidst this proposal was a tax on news aggregator websites, such as Google News and the Drudge Report. Google fired back with a letter to the FTC stating: “Regulatory proposals that undermine the functioning of healthy marketplaces and stall the pace of change are not the solution.” If that’s Google’s principled position, then they should probably abandon their push to regulate the Internet.