Google learning to play Washington lobbying game

WASHINGTON - Google Inc. arrived here in 2005 like a newly elected congressman: eager to change the world but first needing a little help locating the restrooms. After some initial wrong turns, the Internet giant now appears to be finding its way in Washington.

Google's expanding lobbying operation scored two significant victories last year: It convinced federal regulators to approve its $3.1 billion purchase of online ad company DoubleClick Inc., and to partially open new wireless airwaves so the company could more easily make its products available on them.

Though D.C. veterans say Google has a long way to go before its lobbying clout matches its market valuation, the company is no longer viewed as a wide-eyed Washington freshman.

"This is a company that understands what they've got to do, and they're in the process of doing it," said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank. "You can't just get by on good looks."

Presence in Washington

Google is making a major statement about its intention to be a player in the nation's capital. Last week, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt christened Google's new Washington offices: 27,000 square feet in one of the city's trendiest new environmentally conscious buildings.

Lobbyists for the Mountain View, Calif.-based company will work at the site, which is complete with standard Google perks such as free gourmet lunches, a vibrating massage chair and a game room stocked with an Xbox 360, and Ping-Pong and Foosball tables. It's also a place to show off technology to policymakers on enough large plasma screens to fill a Circuit City showroom.

"We're creating a little microcosm of Google in downtown D.C.," said Alan Davidson, who heads the office as the company's senior policy counsel. "We are here to stay and to have a positive presence in Washington."

Establishing that presence has been Google's goal since the summer of 2005, when it hired Davidson, its first lobbyist, from the Center for Democracy and Technology. Google had learned the lesson of Microsoft Corp., which largely ignored Washington in the 1990s until it found itself facing antitrust charges.

In mid-2006, Congress was working on a major telecommunications bill, and Google hoped to persuade lawmakers to add safeguards guaranteeing open Internet access. Co-founder Sergey Brin came here to talk about the so-called network neutrality issue, but was unable to get meetings with some influential lawmakers. The safeguards never happened.

Some supporters of network neutrality were disappointed by Google's efforts in its first major entry into a Washington policy debate.

But since then, Google has done the spadework to cultivate influence. It expanded its Washington staff from three in mid-2006 to nine working on public policy and government relations, with a separate communications team of six.

Washington veterans praise Google for some smart, well-connected hires.

Rick Whitt, a lobbyist for MCI Inc., was brought in to handle telecommunications issues

And Pablo Chavez, formerly general counsel for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), took the lead in persuading the Federal Trade Commission to approve the DoubleClick purchase.

"They have created a very sophisticated and smooth lobbying operation," said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, which fought to stop the DoubleClick deal because of concerns that it would harm consumer privacy and Internet advertising competition.

Partial victory

Microsoft, which has become a Washington lobbying power since its antitrust battles, also pushed the FTC to block the deal. But Google won, and then it scored a partial victory on the wireless issue, defeating such well-connected phone companies as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.

In that case, Google wanted the Federal Communications Commission to require some open-access rules on coveted wireless spectrum to be auctioned starting Thursday. Google's team, led by Whitt, met several times with FCC staff and filed detailed papers outlining why opening the traditionally closed wireless world would lead to innovative new mobile services.

The FCC voted to require the auction winner to allow people to use any phone and download any application they want on the airwaves. But Google's win was only partial: The FCC refused its request to force winning bidders to sell access to companies at wholesale prices so they could offer their own wireless services. Still, fighting the phone companies to a draw was significant.

"While they certainly lack the experience and firepower of an AT&T or Microsoft, they've got the market position, resources and cachet to keep getting better and grow their impact," said Bruce Mehlman, a veteran tech lobbyist.

Goodwill fund

Google also showed its Washington maturity by starting a political action committee. With its employees giving overwhelmingly to Democratic candidates, Google's NETPAC has been able to create goodwill on the other side of the aisle by funneling contributions to key Republicans. The PAC has distributed just $53,100 since 2006, but 54 percent went to Republicans, according to Congressional Quarterly's Moneyline.

The Foosball table in Google's Washington offices shows that the company understands the political game. The red players are labeled Republicans and the blue players Democrats.
Source: chicagotribune.com

Technology struts world stage at Davos

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum kicks off in Switzerland on 23 January under the theme 'The Power of Collaborative Innovation'.
The Forum, known as 'Davos' after the small ski resort which hosts the meeting, gathers the world's top political and business leaders to discuss issues such as climate change, globalisation and economic stability.
This year, some 2,500 delegates will attend between Wednesday and Sunday. Most are chief executives of the largest companies on Earth, representing approximately 25 per cent of the world's annual GDP.
While finance heads will be agonising over the knock-on effects of the summer's financial risk-management crisis, it is no accident that this year's theme sounds like it could be a session at a technology conference.
It is recognition that the interconnectedness which the internet has brought to the world economy is a blessing and a curse; capital and information travel from one market to another at wire speeds, but so do crises.
There is growing awareness among top-level delegates that technology counts. Green power-generation technologies can help mitigate climate change, and collaborative computer networks make sense of globalisation for developed and emerging economies.
Consequently, technology-related sessions at the World Economic Forum grow in number and importance on the agenda each year.
The Technology Pioneers, a forum to help identify, develop and finance start-ups in IT and telecoms, biotech and energy, was run as an integral part of the Annual Meeting for the first time last year rather than as an adjunct.
Of course, the majority of the Technology Pioneers, sponsored by BT, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Accel, originate in the US.
But 14 of this year's 39 companies are from Switzerland, Israel, India, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and the UK.
The big ideas include personal DNA-chip analysis, synthetic bio-catalysts for extracting bio-fuels from crop waste, a giant parachute-style sail for commercial shipping and software which recognises faces in online digital photos.
One of three UK-based Technology Pioneers, Garlik, is promoting a service called DataPatrol which helps consumers manage their online identity by trawling the web looking for instances of their details.
No doubt all of these companies will be looking to repeat the success of a previous Technology Pioneer by the name of Google.
Numerous heads of state, government ministers, representatives of influential non-governmental organisations, such as charities and UN bodies, and the occasional celebrity, such as Bono and Angelia Jolie, also gather to tackle the world's big problems.
Source: nvunet.com

First look: Digital Copy for iTunes technology

DVD movies usually don't make news for techies. But at Macworld, Twentieth Century Fox announced that it would release its first special edition DVD with a new technology that allows you to make a copy to iTunes.
The DVD is the parody "Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest," which is in stores now. Consumers who buy the movie can use the Digital Copy for iTunes technology to transfer a copy of the film to an iTunes library on a computer. The consumer has to enter a unique code to transfer the movie. Each DVD will only transfer its iTunes Digital Copy to one iTunes library.
You can then view the movie on a Mac, PC, iPod, iPhone or the Apple TV set-top box. Fox says it is planning to deliver many more such DVDs this year, including the film "Hitman," being released March 11. The studio's chief executive Jim Gianopulos, announced the new technology on stage at Macworld. With this technology, movie studios are taking a small step toward acknowledging the rights of consumers for "fair use" of movies that they've legally purchased.
Source: - Dean Takahashi, Mercury News

Info2cell completes technology upgrade

MANAMA: Info2cell.com said that it has completed a $1 million technology upgrade that will enable it to manage more than half a million subscribers and serve up to 100 mobile requests a second.
The technology upgrade has also increased Info2cell.com's capacity for video streaming, a feature that allows immediate playback or real time viewing of video content on mobiles without having to wait for a full video file to download.
The leading mobile application service provider's mobile billing gateway has also been upgraded, which enables Info2cell.com to provide flexible subscription billing options on a weekly or monthly basis with most mobile operators in the region, in addition to billing for premium services such as ring tones, Java games or mobile applications.
"Info2cell.com has always been at the forefront of technological innovation, in line with our strategy to offer unrivalled services to our customers," said founder and chief executive officer Bashar Dahabra.
"This major technology upgrade that we have undertaken has tremendously boosted our infrastructure and will help us efficiently service our ever expanding subscriber base.
"Customers will notice a major enhancement in the quality and speed of the services we offer, while we make the most of the greater flexibility that the upgraded technology platform delivers," he said.
Source: gulf-daily-news.com