Does Google harm innovation by others? Is legislation Google is promoting in Washington designed to cement its monopoly? Will Google be regulated?

“Does Google harm innovation by others?”
Tell that to Ebay.

“Is this legislation purely in its own self-interest?”
Sounds like business 101 to me.

“Is there any reason for Google to be regulated and seen as a monopoly?”
No. One of the beauties of the Web.

Links?

Notably, just about every major corporation is active in Washington to promote certain legislation.

What legislation? One of the things Google has been lobbying for is Net Neutrality, which is good for competition and is in fact better for Google’s potential competitors than it is for Google.

There are laws against monopolies. Google is big but they are still subject to national law.

@Snarp Net neutrality is bad for wireless companies, FYI. It has provisions which would inadvertantly harm the managing of traffic on wireless networks.

1. No – Competition provides an incentive for innovation.

2. Maybe – they are a public corporation with an obligation to shareholders, after all, but they don’t technically have a monopoly.

3. They already are.

Wireless companies desires are designed to corporatise the Internet. That means the Internet would no longer allow private persons to freely use the Internet.

@Dr_Lawrence What do you base that on?

I just distrust the motives of the wireless based on the disreputable way they have conducted themselves to date, both in their efforts to restrict trade and the nature of their treatment of clients.

I have no factual basis for my assessment of their intentions.

@Dr_Lawrence I am not a defender of AT&T and other wireless companies. It is just that in this instance, their needs run counter to Net Neutrality, which would inadvertently harm the mobile broadband environment because of the way it is worded. Look at Page 233–24 of this report.