An Interview With Richard Whitt, Google's Washington Telecom and Media Counsel

Google realized that under the pre-existing laws and regulations they were on pretty firm footing, in terms of the ability of their end users to access multiple network platforms and to be able to reach Google. Whether people wanted to make searches, whether they wanted to utilize Gmail, look at Google Earth, or a variety of other applications that we have on the Net, there were few barriers to people being able to use those software applications.

I think what dawned on many of the folks in the company—particularly with the Net neutrality wars that broke out in 2005 and 2006, thanks in part to Ed Whitacre 's conversations with Business Week in the fall of 2005—they realized that that premise was not entirely accurate, and in fact, there were clear signs that the carriers, particularly the larger broadband companies, had real interest in trying to capture some of the value they saw on the Internet, for their own uses.

An Interview With Richard Whitt, Google's Washington Telecom and Media Counsel