Google Reaffirms 'Net Neutrality' Commitment
Google telecom and media counsel Richard Whitt and a watchdog group that favors so-called "network neutrality" legislation fired back at a story in Monday's Wall Street Journal that Whitt argued was "based on a misunderstanding of the way in which the open Internet works." The article alleges that the Internet giant, which has been a leading voice for equal access for all content online providers, has approached major broadband providers with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content.
In a late night blog post, Whitt said Google "remains strongly committed to the principle of net neutrality." He clarified that Google has offered to "colocate" caching servers within broadband providers' own facilities, which would reduce the provider's bandwidth costs since the same video wouldn't have to be transmitted multiple times. All of the collocation deals with broadband providers are non-exclusive, meaning any other entity could employ similar arrangements, Whitt said, adding that none require or encourage that Google traffic be treated with higher priority than other traffic.
Free Press Executive Director Josh Silver issued a statement saying he was skeptical that Google is "engaged in a nefarious plot to undermine the open Internet." Net neutrality is bigger than Google or any single company, Silver said, expressing optimism that Internet anti-discrimination legislation will resurface in 2009 with the support of President-elect Barack Obama. Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn added "the effort to achieve an open and non-discriminatory Internet is alive and well in Washington."
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