Google Launches Public Policy Blog

Posted on June 18, 2007

Google has launched a new blog called the Google Public Policy Blog. The welcome post is from Andrew McLaughlin, Google's Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs.

At the beginning of 2005, I was Google's lone public policy guy. Today, there's a bigger - and growing - team of us scattered around the world, working on issues like privacy, child online safety, copyright and trademark protection, content regulation, reform of the patent system, and broadband policy. These issues are fundamental to the future of the Internet (and of the individuals it empowers), and are increasingly prominent on the agendas of policymakers worldwide.
We're seeking to do public policy advocacy in a Googley way. Yes, we're a multinational corporation that argues for our positions before officials, legislators, and opinion leaders. At the same time, we want our users to be part of the effort, to know what we're saying and why, and to help us refine and improve our policy positions and advocacy strategies. With input and ideas from our users, we'll surely do a better job of fighting for our common interests.

The blog debuted with a backlog of two months of posts because Google had started the blog internally in April.

You may be wondering why it contains two months' worth of posts, given that we're only just now launching. Well, we started the blog internally back in April, to limber up our blogging muscles. Now that we've gone public we thought it'd be fun to share our earlier internal posts. In the weeks and months ahead, expect to hear more from us on issues like net neutrality, censorship, innovation regulation, immigration, R&D, national security, and trade, just to name a few. All of the members of Google's global public policy team will be contributing posts (or else - right, team?).

The blog currently allows comments and Wired's Epicenter blog says, "Considering the growing ranks of Google's critics, the barometer for how sincere this public outreach is will be measured by how long comments remain enabled." Search Engine Land has a list of the new blog's earlier internal posts. Tech Daily Dose notes that Verizon and Cisco also have public policy blogs.