Google Public Policy Blog Launches

We welcome to the neighborhood, the Google Public Policy Blog. We'll be bringing over the casserole after it cools a bit.

And, ever the overachievers, those Googlers, the blog launches with two months of "private" posting unwrapped. More from public policy lead Andrew McLaughlin...

We're seeking to do public policy advocacy in a Googley way. Yes, we're a multinational corporation that argues for our positions before officials, legislators, and opinion leaders. At the same time, we want our users to be part of the effort, to know what we're saying and why, and to help us refine and improve our policy positions and advocacy strategies. With input and ideas from our users, we'll surely do a better job of fighting for our common interests...

We hope this blog will serve as a resource for policymakers around the world -- including legislators, ministers, governors, city councilmembers, regulators, and the staffers who support them -- who are trying to enact sound government policies to foster free expression, promote economic growth, expand access to information, enable innovation, and protect consumers. We also hope (cliché alert) that this blog will promote real conversation, so we've enabled comments.

They've enable comments (which will be interesting) AND added perspectives to the "what we're reading" link roll that includes opinions that aren't always going to jibe with the search giant.

In the posts, to date, one cool feature is the video and reviews of presidential candidate visits to Google's HQ.