Silicon Valley's biggest Internet companies are launching their first trade group to lobby on Capitol Hill. The newly formed Internet Association wants an "open, innovative and free Internet."

Google, Facebook, Amazon, eBay and others banded together as a defensive move, said Nicco Mele, who teaches at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

“Big Internet companies were surprised that the entertainment industry and the cable industry had long and deep ties to many lawmakers and legislators on Capitol Hill,” Mele said.

Just months back, online companies rallied millions of customers and users against a set of piracy bills that attacked their business models, calling for "net neutrality." 

“Hollywood has been building relationships in Washington, D.C. for decades,” Mele explained. “These big Internet companies have something else quite unusual on their sides. They’re for the most part really beloved by their customers.”

Online businesses have to campaign together against challenges from the entertainment and telecommunications lobbies, says Mike McGeary with Engine, a San Francisco-based advocacy group for tech start-ups . But, he adds, there is not a monolithic Internet lobby.

 

The Internet Association has hired as its chief lobbyist Michael Beckerman, a former senior advisor at the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He declined a request for an interview.

 

While the Internet Association’s priorities aren’t yet clear, experts anticipate the group will address issues ranging from a skilled immigrant workforce to intellectual property.