Google's Capitol Idea

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By Jonathan Berr
TheStreet.com Senior Writer
10/6/2005 5:15 PM EDT
URL: http://www.thestreet.com/tech/jonathanberr/10246140.html


Mr. Google (GOOG:Nasdaq) is going to Washington.

Some observers sniffed a political motive as the popular search engine opened a lobbying office Thursday in the nation's capital. But the Mountain View, Calif., company immediately moved to drape its policymaking efforts in the mighty flag of Internet freedom.

"Our mission in Washington boils down to this: defend the Internet as a free and open platform for information, communication and innovation," Andrew McLaughlin, a senior policy counsel, wrote Thursday on the company's internal blog.

"It is quite clear that there are enough . . .