Yesterday, The New York Times posted an article that revealed a deal between Verizon and Google that would go against the tenets of net neutrality. The deal would set up Verizon to deliver content faster at a premium to the content provider. For example, Google could pay Verizon to give priority to YouTube videos. Understandably, this caused a minor uproar across the Internet as people waited for a response from the companies.
Today, as reported by MSNBC, both Google and Verizon are denying those claims. Google posted on Twitter: “@NYTimes is wrong. We"ve not had any convos with VZN about paying for carriage of our traffic. We remain committed to an open Internet.” David Fish, Verizon executive director of media relations, followed suit.
"It fundamentally misunderstands our purpose. As we said in our earlier FCC filing, our goal is an Internet policy framework that ensures openness and accountability, and incorporates specific FCC authority, while maintaining investment and innovation. To suggest this is a business arrangement between our companies is entirely incorrect."
While the two companies are certainly tied to each other as far mobile connectivity goes with Verizon carrying multiple flagship Android handsets, the notion that the two Internet juggernauts are in talks about media delivery is not hard to believe. Google, however, is adamant in its backing of the Open Internet Coalition, one of the leading groups behind the drive for net neutrality. Even if the companies were talking about such a deal, many, like president of Public Knowledge Gigi B. Sohn, believe that a decision that ground-breaking “is too large a matter to be decided by negotiations involving two companies, even companies as big as Verizon and Google."