David Goldman
The Daily Caller
8/13/2010
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Facebook and Google, two of the world’s biggest and most influential online companies, are duking it out in a very public battle over who should control the Internet.
That war of words continued on Thursday, when Google wrote a rebuttal to responses on its joint policy proposal with Verizon about an open-Internet standard known as “Net neutrality.” The rebuttal comes a day after Facebook said it disagreed with the substance of Google and Verizon’s pact.
In a 1,133-word blog post — 361 words longer than the actual proposal — Google produced a fact sheet to counter what it called “inaccuracies” about its position.
Google maintained that it hadn’t “sold out” on Net neutrality, even though it previously supported an opposing position on how wireless networks should be regulated. The company said that “given political realities,” legislation on the topic was going nowhere, and it had to come up with a compromise.
Full Story: Google and Facebook battle over Internet control – Aug. 12, 2010
Update: Net Neutrality Brawl: FCC is Not Happy with Google and Verizon
The Google-Verizon net neutrality saga has taken yet another strange turn as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ended closed-door talks with several companies over the future of net neutrality and has lashed out against the practice of paying for faster transmission of data over the Internet.
“Any outcome, any deal that doesn’t preserve the freedom and openness of the Internet for consumers and entrepreneurs will be unacceptable,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told reporters earlier today. His remarks were in reaction to reports that Google and Verizon are about to strike a deal that would charge some Internet content providers more than others for the transmission of their data to users across the world. Clearly Genachowski is opposed to such an arrangement.
