Bloomberg is reporting that Verizon and Google have reached a deal on how to handle Internet traffic:
The compromise as described would restrict Verizon from selectively slowing Internet content that travels over its wires, but wouldn’t apply such limits to Internet use on mobile phones, according to the people, who asked not to be identified before an announcement.
Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt won’t confirm, but this doesn’t read like much of a denial:
“We’re trying to find solutions that bridge between sort of the ‘hard-core Net neutrality or else’ view and the historic telecom view of no such agreement,” Schmidt told reporters on the sidelines of the Techonomy conference following his appearance on a panel here. …
“I don’t want to announce things we haven’t announced yet,” he said. “We have been talking to Verizon for a long time about trying to get an agreement on what the definition of Net neutrality is.”
It depends on what the meaning of net neutrality is:
“People get confused about Net neutrality,” Schmidt said. “I want to make sure that everybody understands what we mean about it. What we mean is that if you have one data type, like video, you don’t discriminate against one person’s video in favor of another. It’s OK to discriminate across different types…There is general agreement with Verizon and Google on this issue. The issues of wireless versus wireline get very messy…and that’s really an FCC issue not a Google issue.”
Om Malik says it looks like Net Neutrality just got knifed in the back, quoting (among others) D.C. Free Press President and CEO Josh Silver:
“Two of the largest companies – Google and Verizon – have reportedly agreed to abandon consumer protections, filter content and limit choice and free speech on the mobile Internet. If true, the deal is a bold grab for market power by two monopolistic players. Such abuse of the open Internet would put to final rest the Google mandate to ‘do no evil.’ The financial interests of Google appear to have finally trumped its belief in policies to preserve the open Internet. A deal with Verizon cements its market power, and could make it more difficult for new app developers and software entrepreneurs to reach consumers.”
Compare that with the Wikipedia definition. So, District TMV, is the Verizon deal Google gone evil?