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Google Is A Tourist In D.C., Brin Finds
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Google said Brin had made three trips to meet lawmakers in Washington over the past year.
A Google executive testified before a congressional committee earlier this year on its decision to create a Chinese version of its search engine that omits certain political Web sites that country's government does not want users to find. Google and other Internet companies doing business in China came under criticism from lawmakers, and Brin suggested yesterday that Google might reconsider its policy.
Google has also become a target of the telephone industry, which has helped finance a campaign of TV and print ads that suggest the Mountain View, Calif.-based search engine company will kill the telecom legislation.
"Americans are about to get a real choice to cable TV. But is Google going to blow it up?" said one print advertisement paid for by TV4US, a group whose financial backers include AT&T Inc., the largest U.S. phone company.
Brin said he had learned only yesterday about the print ad -- which has a TV twin that has been running in Washington markets -- and he appeared surprised when asked if Google might run its own campaign to fight back.
"I think it's worth a conversation. I am probably naive. I was very surprised to see this," he said.
Asked if he thought Google should do more to lobby on the issue, he replied: "We are a seven-year-old company. Having policy that really significantly affects us is kind of new to us. We are doing the best we can. I think we are putting in a pretty good effort, but we don't have, you know, 30 or 100 years, or however long telcos have been lobbying Congress."
Staff researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.
