So much for Google's "Don't Be Evil" mantra, says Ryan Singel in Wired. Once upon a time, the search giant was a staunch advocate of "mobile net neutrality" — that is, free and open access for cell phones to a variety of wireless carriers. But recently Google has given up that fight, recently signing a pact with Verizon that threatens to further empower the telecom behemoths and undermine the interests of average citizens. Google could have pressured "the FCC to push through new wireless rules," and freed us all from the hell of two-year contracts. It could have put real corporate muscle behind its revolutionary (but ultimately abandoned) Nexus One smartphone. Instead, Google just "surrendered," jettisoning principle and embracing corprate greed. Below, an excerpt:
The thing about surrendering is that it only keeps going. But Google doesn’t care. By surrendering — and by surrendering, I mean, giving up the fight it claimed to be waging on your behalf for open wireless networks — it wins billions of dollars in online, mobile ad revenues.
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