Google, which is negotiating with governments around the world, is becoming like a country in its own right. What's concerning is Google's growing political power. Let's keep in mind that Google took on the Chinese government. Any company that lines up against the Chinese government needs political muscle.
Politico.com sheds some light on Google's aggressive tactics. Google boss Eric Schmidt has close links to the Obama administration and members of Congress. He is also bankrolling the politicians on both sides of the political fence, making $34,000 in personal donations for the 2010 elections, compared with $60,200 during the 2008 election cycle. Also, four Google employees went to work in the administration. They include Andrew McLaughlin, former head of Google's global public policy, who is now White House deputy chief technology officer for Internet policy which Google would have a significant stake in.
Now Schmidt would not be the first CEO to play the political game. It's particularly true for the high tech industries. But what's alarming is the speed and the closeness. Google has gone from having no presence a few years ago to becoming one of the biggest players and that's alarming. According to this chart, published in the Mercury News, Google was second only to Oracle in how much it spent lobbying the US government and twisting arms.
And as we can see in this chart from opensecrets.org, Google is lobbying on a heap of issues. These include Advertising, Energy & Nuclear Power, Trade, Telecommunications and Labor, Antitrust & Workplace.
Google's political power is something that needs to be watched carefully. The firm has a motto not to do evil. But as Lord Acton famously said, power corrupts.
I believe that Google does have a lot of political power. This is because so many people these days use Google as a means of navigating the internet. I did not know the political power that Google posses but can now see that Google could have a lot if influence in the political world. As I have read before, Google is going to be the 51st state in up comming elections. Its power does need to be monitored.