I've always said that one day Google will own the entire bloody universe. Not just because they are becoming so pervasive and getting into every damn thing you can think of, but mainly because they are so bloody smart.
A case in point is the piece in today's Washington Post pointing out that two years ago, Google was on the verge of making a Microsoft-like error of not wielding influence in the Washington corridors of power. Alan B. Davidson, then a 37-year-old former deputy director of the Center for Democracy & Technology, was the search-engine company's sole staff lobbyist in Washington. As recently as last year, Google co-founder Sergey Brin had trouble getting meetings with members of Congress.
To change that, Google went on a hiring spree and now has 12 lobbyists and lobbying-related professionals on staff here — more than double the size of the standard corporate lobbying office — and is continuing to add people. Microsoft now has 23 people working out of its government affairs office in Washington; 16 are lobbyists.
Both Google and Microsoft are raising many thousands of dollars to fund that most ubiquitous feature of American politics... PACS, or Political Action Committee's. I know politicians in Britain sell the odd peerage, but here in American political life, everything is for sale, and I do mean everything!
George Parker
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