Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Google "disapproves" net neutrality ad
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:00:56 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Jim Warren <jwarren () well com> Date: October 24, 2009 6:08:54 PM EDT To: dave () farber netCc: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net>, sergeybrin () google com, larrypage () google com , vint () google com
Subject: Re: [IP] Google "disapproves" net neutrality ad I'm an ardent supporter of net neutrality, as is Google.But I've also known Brett (below) for decades, and trust that he's tellin' the truth.
If this IS true, then Google is ABUSING its massive power over the net, and precisely illustrating why we DO need robust protection for FAIR access to net services and content.
Google's espoused First Principle is - First, do no harm.If Brett's [documented, believable] Google-censorship claim, below, is true, then they are violating that principle. I'm hoping that Google's leaders don't know about it. Either way, we should appeal this to those leaders:
Google cofounders Serge Brin <sergeybrin () google com> & Larry Page <larrypage () google com> Internet co-inventor Vint Cerf <vint () google com> --jim; open-govt & tech-civlib advocate & sometime columnist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Warren justjim36 on twitter | Jim Warren on Facebook
Begin forwarded message:From: Brett Glass <<mailto:brett () lariat net>brett () lariat net> Date: October 24, 2009 16:23:04 EDT ...Several months ago, I noticed that when one typed the phrase "network neutrality" into Google's search engine, the top listed results all advocated Google's regulatory agenda. In fact, Google was contributing free advertising to groups which advocated "network neutrality" regulation (see <http://www.google.com/grants/ >http://www.google.com/grants/). This gave them an unfair advantage. They could place very high "bids" but not be charged for them, so their ads were guaranteed to show up on Google's result pages whereas paid ads might not.I therefore created a simple advertisement, using Google's "AdWords" facility, which pointed to a white paper I had written on the issue. This white paper advocated regulation only in instances of anticompetitive practices or market failure, and recommended that content and application providers (including Google) who could serve as gatekeepers be scrutinized for anti-consumer practices as well as ISPs. (You can see the paper at<http://www.brettglass.com/principles.pdf>http://www.brettglass.com/ principles.pdfon my Web site.)Then, on the morning of the FCC's vote on a Notice of Proposed Rule Making on "network neutrality" regulation, I received the following notice from Google:Subject: Your Google AdWords Approval Status Hello, Thank you for advertising with Google AdWords. After reviewing youraccount, we've found that one or more of your ads or keywords doesn'tmeet our guidelines.I entered Google's Web interface, and discovered that -- during the days before today's FCC meeting -- the ad had received large numbers of clickthroughs. This number dropped to zero, of course, when Google blocked the ad.
... <EXTENSIVE DETAILS SNIPPED> ...[Brett's full posting is in Farber's IP archives at http://bit.ly/ dNizI ]
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Current thread:
- Google "disapproves" net neutrality ad Dave Farber (Oct 24)
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- Re: Google "disapproves" net neutrality ad David Farber (Oct 24)
- Re: Google "disapproves" net neutrality ad David Farber (Oct 24)
- Re: Google "disapproves" net neutrality ad David Farber (Oct 24)
- Re: Google "disapproves" net neutrality ad David Farber (Oct 24)
- Re: Google "disapproves" net neutrality ad David Farber (Oct 24)
- Re: Google "disapproves" net neutrality ad David Farber (Oct 26)