Under scrutiny, Google spends record amount on lobbying
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 23rd Apr 2012 22:40 UTC
In the News "The increase is a sign that the search engine can no longer afford to operate in a Silicon Valley vacuum. For years, Google had a reputation for indifference inside the Beltway. It took Google until May 2005 to set up a presence in Washington and even then, its headquarters consisted of a one-man lobbying shop in suburban Maryland." Do the Americans among you just accept this? Is this normal? Why aren't you guys turning to the streets when your country is quite clearly being bought left and right? I mean, I'm sure this happens everywhere, but on this scale? Gives me the creeps.
E-mail Print r 2   39 Comment(s) http://osne.ws/jyg
Thread beginning with comment 515516
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE: libertie$
by flynn on Tue 24th Apr 2012 13:05 UTC in reply to "libertie$"
flynn
Member since:
2009-03-19

And how does this lobbying compare to say tobacco.

Ars has comparisons to other lobbies in their article:

From January to March of this year, Google spent over $5 million on lobbying, nearly matching its entire 2010 lobbying budget of $5.2 million. If the company maintains this pace, it will likely earn itself a spot as one of the top ten spending entities for the year as logged by Open Secrets. Comparing this same rate with 2011 figures, Google would outspend the entire tobacco industry ($17.07 million), the combined spending of JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup ($18.67 million), but would be just barely behind the combined budgets of pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Merck ($20.685 million). For comparison, Apple spent only $500,000 for the same 2012 quarter; Microsoft spent $1.79 million.

Reply Parent Score: 4