Mr. Google Goes To Washington

In Silicon Valley, there's generally a general dislike for the politics of Washington DC -- and the concept that firms should need to hire "lobbyists" is pretty distasteful. Unfortunately, though, it's very much necessary for a larger company these days. The NY Times is the latest to cover Google's efforts on K Street. However, while other industries and large companies have pretty well-defined lobbying agendas, reading over this article, it becomes pretty clear that (so far, at least), Google's lobbying agenda is pretty reactive. Basically, they're dealing with stopping legislation that could be harmful to them. That makes sense for a company whose culture is pretty much one of independence and expects (or, at least, hopes) for a hands off approach from the government. The problem is that other industries are proactively lobbying for beneficial legislation (often written by them). It's nice that Google hasn't necessarily reached that stage yet -- but can it last?