Jostling Begins as FCC’s Net Neutrality Vote Nears

Times have changed. Google has grown. And strong network neutrality rules are now no longer a top company priority. They could even be a hindrance. Officially, Google hasn’t taken a formal position on the president’s net neutrality proposal. Google’s straddling of the issue is one of many changes in Silicon Valley over the years on net neutrality.

In the fast-moving tech industry, companies are constantly changing and evolving. As a result, some of the companies that once sought strong net neutrality rules, no longer see such rules as essential to their businesses. The ever-evolving battle lines in the industry mean that a Federal Communications Commission vote on final rules won't be the end of the debate. Instead, it will trigger a whole range of skirmishes among the various tech factions about what should be regulated and how as each lobbies for favorable interpretations of the rules. The jostling has already begun. “Many of the tech giants—the Googles and Ciscos of the world—don’t have the same vested interest in net neutrality that they did the first time around,” said Don Goldberg, a partner at Bluetext who has been involved in the net neutrality debate for nearly a decade. “They’ve grown up into established mega-corporations, and because of their size, resources, and clout, they don’t face the same threats that they once did,” he said.