Google protest draws about 100, organizers say

A protest near Google's Mountain View headquarters on Friday drew about 100 people, according to organizers, as liberal groups and public activists came together to vilify the company.

"Google's evil deal with Verizon and AT&T is a cynical power-grab designed to enrich these corporations while killing the exact open Internet that allowed Google to flourish in the first place,” said Justin Ruben, executive director of MoveOn.org.

Liberal groups including MoveOn.org and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee joined consumer activist Free Press to speak out against a net-neutrality policy proposal from Google and Verizon, which the protesters said is too weak and represents a reversal from tougher stances by Google in the past. 

AT&T said this week that it was not party to the Google-Verizon agreement, but that it saw it as a positive sign for the net-neutrality debate that those two companies are working together. It also posted a defense on its blog of one of the pieces of Google and Verizon's proposal that has incensed net-neutrality purists: a provision that exempts wireless carriers from the toughest net-neutrality rules in the framework. 

"We’ve been making this point for several months now but we can’t emphasize it enough: wireless is simply different," writes AT&T's Joan Marsh, vice president of federal regulatory affairs. 

Google responded to its critics with a blog post on Thursday, arguing that its proposal is a step forward for net neutrality because it would impose tougher regulations than have been in place in the past. It suggested that the framework was meant as a politically realistic proposal for net-neutrality regulations that can be imposed now, rather than a document that represents the company's final word on Internet openness. 

"In the spirit of compromise, we have agreed to a proposal that allows this market to remain free from regulation for now, while Congress keeps a watchful eye," writes Washington telecom and media counsel Richard Whitt. 

Free Press spokeswoman Liz Rose said the groups chose Google's headquarters, and not Verizon's, because they believe Google's stance constitutes a reversal, whereas Verizon has never been on their side, according to Rose.

The "evil" rhetoric from protesters riffs on a Google corporate motto: "You can make money without doing evil."