Privacy, Antipiracy, Cybersecurity Issues at Forefront of 2012 Lobbying Spree
Google and Facebook more than doubled their lobbying spending in the first quarter of 2012 compared to a year earlier quarter, according to federal reports filed Friday. AT&T nearly doubled its lobbying spending from the fourth quarter of 2011 when its bid to purchase T-Mobile collapsed. Meanwhile, USTelecom, NCTA and CEA trimmed their Q1 lobbying spending by more than 20 percent compared to the previous quarter.
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Google spent $5.03 million on lobbying in the first quarter, more than half of the company’s lobbying spend for the entirety of 2011. In addition to lobbying against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), Google’s report said it also lobbied on several cybersecurity bills including the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). A spokeswoman for the company confirmed that Google had not taken a position on the bill but said “we think this is an important issue and we're watching the process closely.” Yahoo, which recently refocused efforts on news, e-commerce and social media, increased its spending by 3 percent compared with the previous quarter to $650,000.
Instead of blacking out the Facebook website during the January protests of SOPA and PIPA, the company spent $650,000 in advocacy dollars amid increased congressional scrutiny of copyright infringement. Facebook also disclosed that it had lobbied on at least 10 cybersecurity bills along with more than a handful of privacy bills in the House and Senate. A Facebook spokesman said the company has made it a priority “to ensure that resources are in place to demonstrate our leadership in privacy, security and safety."
AT&T’s lobbying spend of $7.05 million was a drop in the bucket compared to the $4 billion breakup charge it paid last quarter after the collapse of its proposed purchase of T-Mobile (CD Dec 20 p1). T-Mobile decreased its own lobbying dollars by nearly 28 percent from the previous quarter to $1.05 million. Sprint Nextel spent $712,500 in Q1 lobbying, a 22 percent increase from its Q1 spend in 2011.
Verizon spent $4.51 million on lobbying in Q1, a 41 percent increase from the previous quarter, but a 3.6 percent drop in Q1 2011 spending. Verizon lobbied on cybersecurity, privacy, copyright, universal service reform, cellphone cramming and digital goods taxation, the company disclosed. Comcast/NBCUniversal spent $4.55 million in Q1, a 22 percent drop from its Q1 spend in 2011 and barely a 1 percent increase from the previous quarter.
CEA cut its lobbying spend in 2012 after achieving “great success in the last year with regard to the allocation of broadband spectrum, approval of trade agreements, and the prevention of overly broad and destructive copyright legislation,” said a CEA spokeswoman. The group spent $620,000 on lobbying in Q1, a 26 percent decrease compared to the previous quarter.
USTelecom slashed its Q1 lobbying spend by 29 percent to $1.45 million compared to the previous quarter. The NCTA trimmed its Q1 lobbying expense to $4.28 million, a 21 percent decrease versus the previous quarter. CTIA spent $2.66 million in the first quarter, an 18 percent decrease compared to Q4 2011. The NAB increased its lobbying spend 20 percent from the previous quarter to $4.23 million.