Tech Companies, Google Sold You Out

The Verizon-Google agreement is a big story -- not necessarily because it's going to change the policy discussion much, but because it marks Google selling out the tech and startup community so it can advance its own economic interests.

If you weren't aware of it by now, Google's going to play the regulatory game for itself, not for the broader tech community. Even if the Federal Communications Commission can muster up the political will to ignore this agreement — which is really just a highly amplified (and influential) comment in the net neutrality proceedings and probably won't have any impact on policy unless the FCC or Congress decides its the optimal way to go — it's worth looking at the implications were such an agreement to be made law. Why? Because this agreement is a perfect example of self-regulation, whereby those with the most to gain (and lose) present a proposal that's not terrible in the present, but has huge implications when it comes to the future.