Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Google Opens Berlin Office to Influence Policies

German Welt Online reports (translated):

The Californian search engine operator went to Hamburg in 2001. This was followed by offices in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt/ Main, and Munich with altogether 300 employees. Now Berlin will be the smallest branch at 150 square meters.

Mainly, the new location will be housing Google’s new chief lobbyist Annette Kroeber-Riel. Internal title: European Policy Counsel. Kroeber-Riel represents Google in industry associations like the Bitkom, and promotes Google positions to consumer protection workers and politicians.

Welt.de adds that Kroeber-Riel “will have a lot to do” as “since months” the criticism against Google grows, in particular in relations to “privacy concerns.” As opposed to Munich and Zurich locations (note the main Google address list only lists the Hamburg office in Germany), software development will not be of concern to the Berlin office, Welt.de reports.

According to an ICANN conference page, Kroeber-Riel formerly also worked as policy manager for VeriSign. She also previously co-authored a blog post at Google which expressed hope that “openness is front and center” in the policies of the European Commission and governments.

[Thanks Hebbet!]

Google Opens Berlin Offic ... by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (1+0)

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