Edward Lazarus

Amid a fierce clash over the Net's next era, tech titans Google and Verizon crafted their own broadband policy plan and shined a light on what might be Washington's most ineffectual regulator -- the FCC. Unknown to many, Google and Verizon worked on that plan since fall of 2008.

Lobbyists from some of the largest U.S. technology companies are meeting behind closed doors in Washington with telecom giants to discuss net neutrality, following the failed FCC talks and Google's bilateral deal with Verizon. No surprise, public interest groups weren't invited.

Public interest groups kept up their assault on the FCC's closed-door broadband policy meetings after the agency decided to bypass standard disclosure rules, effectively shutting out the public. One group took out a full page ad in The Washington Post blasting the meetings.