[governance] Facebook spent $4 million to lobby U.S. lawmakers in 2012

[McTim]

HI,

Just some observations from someone who lived in DC for a while:

On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 7:56 PM, Guru गुरु <Guru at itforchange.net> wrote:

>  "Tech companies are spending exorbitant sums to advance their agendas in
> Washington. In 2012, Google spent $16.48 million and Microsoft spent $8.09
> million to lobby U.S. lawmakers."
>

These are not "exorbitant sums" by any stretch of the imagination in terms
of lobbying in DC.


> ... I wonder what are the implications for democratic internet governance
> and democracy?? ...
>
>
Isn't this democracy in action?  a citizen (or business owner) wants to
shape policy and they spend time and effort to get the attention of
policymakers.



> regards
> Guru
>
> Facebook spent $4 million to lobby U.S. lawmakers in 2012
>
> The social network is spending millions to advance a pro-Facebook agenda
> in the nation's capital. Cue the cynicism.
> Jennifer Van Grove
> January 23, 2013 1:58 PM PST
> Facebook wined and dined U.S. lawmakers and racked up a tab close to $4
> million during 2012
>


The reality is that you can't buy U.S. lawmakers a meal anymore (or a
drink) without them having to file extensive reports on such contacts.  For
most, it's just not worth a free meal to spend an hour or more doing the
paperwork on it.  The culture has changed dramatically in Washington in the
last 2 decades.

The tech companies spend these large sums mostly on staff, offices and
events.

there is one this week:

http://www.netcaucus.org/conference/

sponsors at http://www.netcaucus.org/conference/

-- 
Cheers,

McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route
indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20130123/0e9eec86/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t