COPYCENSE

“Google has a Washington problem. Since it started hiring for its public policy team last year, the Web giant hasn’t snagged a single high-profile Republican. Indeed, Washington’s GOP ruling elite isn’t giving Google the time of day.

“The Republicans can’t seem to forgive what they see as Google’s leftward tilt. In the 2004 federal election cycle, 99% of Google employees’ campaign contributions went to Democrats. For its first lobbyist, the company last May hired Alan Davidson, a Democrat and former privacy policy wonk at the Center for Democracy & Technology think tank.

“And now Google has taken positions on two issues that rankle many on the Right: rebuffing U.S. government subpoenas to measure how many Google searches are related to pornography, while bowing to the censorship demands leveled by China’s communist government as the price of doing business in that country.”

Catherine Yang. Google’s Search for Respect in D.C. BusinessWeek Online. Feb. 9, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.