Google Adsense College

Posted by Richard Whitt, Washington
Telecom and Media Counsel, and Joseph Faber, Corporate
Counsel

This afternoon the Federal Communications Commission

href="http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280968A1.pdf"
id="x4ot" >announced the href="http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-595A2.pdf"
id="pk1d" >results of its 700 MHz spectrum auction. While the
Commission's anti-collusion rules prevent us from saying much
at this point, one thing is clear: although Google didn't pick
up any spectrum licenses, the auction produced a major victory for
American consumers.

We congratulate the winners and look forward to a more open
wireless world. As a result of the auction, consumers whose devices
use the C-block of spectrum soon will be able to use any wireless
device they wish, and download to their devices any applications
and content they wish. Consumers soon should begin enjoying new,
Internet-like freedom to get the most out of their mobile phones
and other wireless devices.

We'll have more to say about the auction in the near future.
Stay tuned.

Tags: , Counsel, Media, Posted, Richard, Telecom, Washington, Whitt

Posted by Richard Whitt, Washington
Telecom and Media Counsel, and Joseph Faber, Corporate
Counsel

For three weeks at the end of January and early February, a small
team of us holed up in href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Super_Secret_Background#Double_Super_Secret_Background" >
double super secret "war rooms" in Mountain View, CA
and Washington, D.C. to bid on Google's behalf in the FCC
spectrum auction. Bidding took place electronically, and literally
billions of dollars were at stake with every mouse click. And
because of the FCC's strict href="http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/default.htm?job=anti_collusion" >
anti-collusion rules, we couldn't tell a soul what was
going on behind closed doors.

But now that the FCC's rules have lifted, we can. As you
probably know by now, Google href="http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/03/end-of-fcc-700-mhz-auction.html" >
didn't pick up any spectrum licenses in the auction.
Nonetheless, partly as a result of our bidding, consumers soon
should have new freedom to get the most out of their mobile phones
and other wireless devices.

Google's top priority heading into the auction was to make sure
that bidding on the so-called "C Block" reached the $4.6
billion reserve price that would trigger the important "open
applications" and "open handsets" license
conditions. We were also prepared to gain the nationwide C Block
licenses at a price somewhat higher than the reserve price; in
fact, for many days during the early course of the auction, we were
the high bidder. But it was clear, then and now, that Verizon
Wireless ultimately was motivated to bid higher (and had href="http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2007/07/restoring-competitive-balance-to.html" >
far more financial incentive to gain the licenses).

You may remember that as the FCC was setting rules for the auction
last summer, we urged the Commission to adopt href="http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2007/07/our-commitment-to-open-broadband.html" >
four openness conditions. Further, we vowed to bid at least
$4.6 billion in the auction if the Commission adopted all four
rules. Even though the FCC ultimately agreed to only two of the
conditions, which nullified our original pledge, we still believed
it was important to demonstrate through action our commitment to a
more open wireless world.

We're glad that we did. Based on the way that the bidding
played out, our participation in the auction helped ensure that the
C Block met the reserve price. In fact, in ten of the bidding
rounds we actually raised our own bid — even though no one was
bidding against us — to ensure aggressive bidding on the C Block.
In turn, that helped increase the revenues raised for the U.S.
Treasury, while making sure that the openness conditions would be
applied to the ultimate licensee.

The end of the auction certainly doesn't mark the end of our
efforts toward greater wireless choice and innovation. We will
weigh in at the FCC as it sets implementation rules for the C
Block, and determines how to move forward with a href="http://government.zdnet.com/?p=3723" >D Block re-auction.
Android is already
off to a successful start, and we are likely to see handsets later
this year based on the Android platform. We will continue
advocating for the FCC to open up the vacant href="http://wirelessinnovationalliance.com/" >"white
spaces" in the TV spectrum band for mobile broadband uses.
And as more policymakers and regulators around the world evaluate
their own spectrum policies, we'll continue pushing to help
make the wireless world look much more like the open platform of
the Internet

Tags: , Counsel, Media, Posted, Richard, Telecom, Washington, Whitt

Jason Levine writes:

If you had lived for some time in Washington special zone, you perhaps can notice an issue recently: Google Maps basically went on strike. In Feburary the middle ten days of a month some time, previous that very marvelous Google map service still updated an address analytic function, the problem is this function not can analytic an abecedarian is street name and the quadrantal system that are used in Colombian area.

There still is more news on the rich guest of Jason, is I want to know this how one and the same? Janson mentions most is be being commented on to this about Google is them ” already was informed this problem ” [acknowledgment Jason]

Tags: , Did, go, google, Maps, Special, Washington, zone

Posted by Alan Davidson, Washington
Policy Counsel, DC office

Congress is holding a hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, November 8th, on
"network neutrality" and a big new telecommunications
bill affecting the Internet. Vint Cerf, our net neutrality guru,
was unable to testify because of a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/11/standing-on-shoulders-of-this-giant.html" >
little awards ceremony at the White House (congratulations,
Vint!), but here is his letter to the Hill outlining our concerns.
Microsoft will be testifying for our side, demonstrating that
inside the Beltway, we agree on a lot.

You can follow the href="http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/11092005hearing1706/hearing.htm" >
proceedings here — and we hope you do. This bill could
fundamentally alter the fabulously successful end-to-end Internet.

November 8, 2005

The Honorable Joe Barton
Chairman
Committee on Energy and Commerce
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable John D. Dingell
Ranking Member
Committee on Energy and Commerce
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Barton and Ranking Member Dingell,

I appreciate the inquiries by your staff about my availability to
appear before the Committee and to share Google’s views about draft
telecommunications legislation and the issues related to
"network neutrality." These are matters of great
importance to the Internet and Google welcomes the Committee’s hard
work and attention. The hearing unfortunately conflicts with
another obligation, and I am sorry I will not be able to attend.
(Along with my colleague Robert Kahn, I am honored to be receiving
the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Wednesday at the White House
for our work in creating the Internet protocol TCP/IP.)

Despite my inability to participate in the planned hearing in
person, I hope that you will accept some brief observations about
this legislation.

The remarkable social impact and economic success of the Internet
is in many ways directly attributable to the architectural
characteristics that were part of its design. The Internet was
designed with no gatekeepers over new content or services. The
Internet is based on a layered, end-to-end model that allows people
at each level of the network to innovate free of any central
control. By placing intelligence at the edges rather than control
in the middle of the network, the Internet has created a platform
for innovation. This has led to an explosion of offerings – from
VOIP to 802.11x wi-fi to blogging – that might never have evolved
had central control of the network been required by design.

My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage to the
Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly permits
network operators to discriminate in favor of certain kinds of
services and to potentially interfere with others would place
broadband operators in control of online activity. Allowing
broadband providers to segment their IP offerings and reserve huge
amounts of bandwidth for their own services will not give consumers
the broadband Internet our country and economy need. Many people
will have little or no choice among broadband operators for the
foreseeable future, implying that such operators will have the
power to exercise a great deal of control over any applications
placed on the network.

As we move to a broadband environment and eliminate century-old
non-discrimination requirements, a lightweight but enforceable
neutrality rule is needed to ensure that the Internet continues to
thrive. Telephone companies cannot tell consumers who they can
call; network operators should not dictate what people can do
online.

I am confident that we can build a broadband system that allows
users to decide what websites they want to see and what
applications they want to use – and that also guarantees high
quality service and network security. That network model has and
can continue to provide economic benefits to innovators and
consumers — and to the broadband operators who will reap the
rewards for providing access to such a valued network.

We appreciate the efforts in your current draft to create at least
a starting point for net neutrality principles. Google looks
forward to working with you and your staff to draft a bill that
will maintain the revolutionary potential of the broadband
Internet.

Thank you for your attention and for your efforts on these
important issues.

Sincerely,

Vinton Cerf
Chief Internet Evangelist
Google Inc.

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