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Four of the most prominent websites are among those forming a new lobbying group to promote Internet forms. Amazon, eBay, Facebook and Google are the first known members of the Internet Association.
The public face of the group is Michael Beckerman, who comes with connections. He was previously an advisor to Fred Upton, the congressman in charge of the committee that deals with the Internet among other issues.
Officially the idea of the group is to have a more united and consistent voice when lobbying for Internet firms, with a principle of promoting ” public policy solutions that strengthen and protect an open, innovative and free Internet.” Unofficially it may also be an attempt to cut costs or spend cash more wisely by avoiding the need for two firms to lobby hard on the same argument.
Beckerman says a full list of the Internet Association’s members and policies will be ready for September. At that point it appears the lobbyists will turn their attention to electoral candidates including potential congressmen.
All four firms known to have joined have increased their lobbying spending recently, with year-on-year rises between 10 percent (eBay) and 90 percent (Google), with a total spend of just under six million dollars between April and June.
It’s certainly true that the clout of these major firms may well lobby for measures that will be welcomed by many web users. For example, Beckerman has already indicated that such a group would have been better placed to fight proposed legislation such as the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. The firms could also take on cable companies and other internet providers that want to limit net neutrality.
On the other hand, until we see a full list of members, it’s hard to know how representative this will be of the web as a whole. There’s a danger it could simply be a big boys club that becomes preoccupied with staving off any antitrust measures that stop major firms abusing their market position at the expense of smaller challengers.
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