Google Denies Being in Talks with Verizon to Pay for Prioritized Traffic

Google has officially responded to rumors saying that the company is in talks with US internet provider Verizon over an agreement which would enable the ISP to prioritize some traffic on its network. The talks would basically put an end to any discussion about net neutrality, a topic Google has been passionate about and on which the two companies have disagreed on, in the past.

Rumors of the talks, said to be in the late stages, showed up in numerous publications, independently. In fact, it’s a bit unusual for a rumor like this to be picked up by major outlets like the New York Times, Bloomberg, the Washington Post and others at the same time, all citing their own sources.

“@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,” the search giant responded on its Google Public Policy Twitter account.

The rumors say that the two companies are close to an agreement which would allow Verizon to speed up certain traffic without Google interfering. The details of the deal vary according to the source. But all say that Verizon will have the liberty of prioritizing traffic, with some restrictions. In essence it would enable it to charge for preferential treatment of a particular site or service.

This strikes directly at the very disputed net neutrality debate. On one side, internet providers and telcos argue that they should be able to offer better services for the companies that are willing to pay for it. The companies say that they must do this in order to survive in the low-margin ISP business. Of course, the fact that they’ve enjoyed government help and favorable regulations which allowed them to set up a de-facto cartel in most of the US doesn’t enter in the equation.

On the other side, content providers and advocacy groups, with Google being a very vocal member, argue that all content should be ‘equal’ for ISPs, regardless of its nature and source. Google, along with every other website out there, already pay for their internet connections and bandwidth. Consumers pay for their internet connections as well. Yet the ISPs want websites to pay for the privilege of being allowed on their networks, for which they’re getting paid already.

Google being in talks with Verizon would effectively mean that the debate is over, or at least taken a major blow. But the search giant has denied talks with Verizon. Interestingly though, Google denies being in talks to pay for preferential treatment, something that the New York Time didn’t actually claim, but doesn’t deny that there are any sort of talks with the ISP. Google's CEO Eric Schmidt didn't deny the talks, but didn't confirm them either. Verizon also responded saying that the report is "mistaken." Interestingly, Verizon also didn't deny that some talks were in place. The next few days should prove rather interesting.