Google Spent $1.3 Million on Lobbying, What Are They Buying?

Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, revealed today that Google upped its spending on Washington lobbyists by a mammoth 57% from the same period last year. Lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Senate Office of Public Affairs show that the firm handed over $1.3 million in the first quarter of 2010, compared with $880,000 in 2009. So just what is it that Google is lobbying for? "It's clear they're interested in some of the privacy issues around the [Federal Trade Commission]," said John M. Simpson, consumer advocate of Consumer Watchdog. "The whole issue of behavioral advertising, too." "They're very big into Net neutrality," he said. "Despite their talk of don't be evil, they're falling right into the typical influence-peddling approach that other big, gargantuan companies have followed."