Google is considering ditching the U.S. Chamber of Commerce out of frustration with its support for legislation that would force Internet companies to police websites that peddle pirated movies and fake Viagra.
The rumblings of a defection ? a potentially serious blow to one of Washington?s most powerful lobbies ? come weeks after Yahoo left the Chamber in October, largely over its support of Sen. Patrick Leahy?s (D-Vt.) online piracy bill, the PROTECT IP Act.
Continue ReadingA source close to Google said the company is ?frustrated? about paying dues to an organization promoting legislation that would ?impose new liabilities? on Google. A second source close to the company confirmed that thinking.
The Consumer Electronics Association, one of the country?s largest trade groups, is also weighing whether to part ways with the Chamber over its aggressive campaign for the Senate bill and its companion introduced in the House last week, the Stop Online Piracy Act, a tech industry source said.
The bills would require search engines and online ad companies to clamp down on websites that illegally peddle copyrighted movies, fake pharmaceuticals and other counterfeit products if served with a court order by the Justice Department.
CEA and some top Google executives have publicly argued that the bills would threaten innovation and encourage censorship of protected speech on the Web.
CEA and Google declined to comment for this story. The Chamber said it does not comment on membership matters.
Many in the tech industry believe the Chamber is doing the bidding of Hollywood and other deep-pocketed members of the content industry. The Chamber believes the IP bills are needed to stop rogue sites from profiting off the content its members spend millions making.
In testimony before Congress, entertainment companies have vilified Google as a facilitator of online piracy.
The Chamber has blasted a series of blog posts touting both pieces of legislation and orchestrated fly-in trips to D.C. for its content and pharmaceutical industry members ? including Eli Lilly, NBCUniversal and Rosetta Stone ? to canvass the Hill. It also created a website dedicated to its campaign against rogue sites, FightOnlineTheft.com.
That aggressive push, a tech industry source said, was largely what prompted Yahoo to quietly cut ties with the Chamber last month. A Yahoo spokeswoman did not comment on the business lobby?s support for the bills, but told POLITICO at the time that it ?has memberships with numerous trade associations and belongs to a number of organizations that promote a free and fair marketplace which enable Yahoo! to innovate on behalf of our more than 700 million users.?
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